Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Caulking Shower Question

Hi all, In my experience, most builders only use "grout" for the joints and seems in a tile shower enclosure. From what I've been told and from my own experiences, this is not the correct way to seal a tile shower, as caulk should be used where there is a change of plain (wall corner seems)and where dissimilar meterials meet (fiberglass shower pan & wall tile). To me this makes good sense, as those are the areas where you will most likely get movement and grout will not flex with the movement and will consequently crack and break. So here's my question: If the grout is sound and solid with no cracks or breaks in the areas that I mentioned (wall seams and where dissimilar meterials meet) should I just caulk over the grout or should I remove the grout, before I caulk? I like to so things the absolute best way so they hold up for the longest time. Thank you

You are correct about you thoughts concerning grout and caulk.Grout should go between the tiles but caulk should be used at corners,edges etc.

If grout actually is in corners and other places like that it will likely eventually crack.

If it was me and I found this error situation I'd either leave the existing grout uncovered knowing I was going to redo the situation once it did crack or redo it now.I would not caulk over it.Eventually you'd have cracked grout under your caulk.

Grout is a form of cement so removing it will not be easy.You will need to take care not to break tiles unless you are prepared for that with replacements etc.

spdavid, thanks for your reply.

I agree totally with you in regard to replacing grout with caulk in these areas.The only reason I was asking about weather or not to remove all the grout is because there are some areas where the grout is still like new and some areas where the grout is cracked and falling apart and it seems to be based on the location of the grout. For example, the grout on the left side of the shower inclosure had cracks and I removed all of it, but the grout on the right side of the shower is still like new and doesn't have any cracks in it and it's the original grout and the house is 17 years old. So, that's why I wondered if I should just caulk over the uncracked grout and only remove the cracked grout. Does any of this change your opinion in any way or do you still stand by your original reply of "don't caulk over grout". And lastly, what harm would it do if I did caulk over the grout and the grout eventually cracked? Again, I like to do things the best way possible for the longest lasting results. Thanks

I can only guess why some areas of grout lasted so long while others did not.I suppose either the areas that cracked up took all of the expansion and contraction stress sparing the rest or those areas just had more movement in them.

It's a judgement call.I have to wonder if caulking the areas now without grout thereby adding a new element of more movement to them will change the areas where the grout lasted.

As for caulk over grout if the grout does fail it's more material to remove and it would possibly hide the failure which doesn't help you any.

I'd remove it to avoid a possible different appearance between the caulk with no grout under it and the caulk with it.

But ultimately it is a judgement call.

Industry standard says caulk, but if the grout is holding up, keep it that way. I've had my shower all grouted for a long time with no issues.

Also remember, the grout or caulk have no play in having a "leak proof" shower. You actually could have no grout or caulk and you should never have a leak.

If the grout is holding up, leave it be, no need to remove it and certainly no need to caulk over it (dont do that). If there are joints where there grout is cracked, remove the grout and caulk it with a color matched caulk.