Removing caulk & replacing

[John Bridge]

Hi John,

You need to get the grout pretty much out of the crack. You might not remove it all, but you need to remove most of it.

The Kuwati picture of cheap caulk is a cheap shot, Tom.

I don't like any kind of caulking, but when I use it I usually use acrylic latex because it is removable, and I think that caulk is an item that will be removed from time to time. Latex is also easily worked and the clean up is with water.

But by the gods if you want a caulking that won't come loose, use silicone.

[KingsCup]

The cracks were 1 or 2mm. The grout itself was between 1/8" and 1/4" and about 1/4" deep. The gap I have made is at least 1/8" everywhere. In some places I've got it almost all out and even chiselled away remnants of grout with a razor blade.

I tried using an electric drill as a "mill" to widen the spaces I'd made. No luck (and I succeeded in making some small chips in the marble). My respect for grout increases daily

[KingsCup]

Bought a "bit" for a dremel. Didn't buy a dremel. Thought just using a carbide mill in a regular drill would do the trick for the grout. This is the best yet, but still a long way to go. What is this stuff? I'm thinking of giving up, using latex caulk to fill the gap and then come back in a few years time and get the rest of the grout when I replace the caulk next time.

To be fair to the saleman, he doubted that a regular drill would do the trick. His advice was a chisel and a hammer to "shear" it off. Or else a real dremel??

Regards, John
p.s. Good (?) news is that I'm going to take the majority opinion on the board and go with a latex caulk with sand in it for the refill.

[Airborne]

John B.,

This may be the demons from my tract building background re-emerging, but I was "taught" (blind leading the blind) to always grout and then thinly caulk 90-degree inside corners. I infer from you reply above that you frown upon caulk in all but the most extreme cases. Am I interpreting your statement correctly? What would you view as reasonable applications for color matched caulks? Do you just grout and seal under most conditions?

[John Bridge]

Art,

Keep your voice down. I'm gonna have the Tile Ranger on me again.

ANSI (Tile Council of America) standard suggest that all "changes of plane" be caulked, not grouted at all. But I'm a mud man, and I've been grouting everything for years. I don't intend to change. If, however, grout won't stay put, the only thing left is caulking.

Routinely caulking over grout is a really bad idea in my opinion. The very thin layer of caulk doesn't keep moisture out, but it keeps it in. The moinsture can't evaporate and you get the black looking mold behind the caulking. You can't wash it off because the caulking is in the way.

So one or the other. Wanna go by the book, use caulking. Wanna chance being sanctioned by the tile police, do it my way.

[KingsCup]

Chisel worked pretty well to get the kling-ons, but to be honest I just got bored removing the grout. So I inserted the caulk. Looks stunning -- you can barely see where I've scratched the tiles :-)

Thanks for all of your comments, I'll be back again in 3-4 years when the latex-caulk needs replacing...