shower grout repair questions

[lisa5]

Hi,

My tile installer used grout in the seam where the travertine tiles meet the pre-fab shower base. It is crumbling out and I have to repair, but I have some questions about what to do:

1. Should I use silicone caulk or silicone/latex caulk?

2. What tool(s) should I use to remove the damaged grout?

3. What about the corners of the walls where the tile meets the tile? Those are grouted too, but I see a hairline crack developing. Should I fix this too?

4. He also used grout where the top of the shower bench (a solid stone slab) meets the wall. Even if grout can be used in this application, I need to do some repair, because there is a hairline crack and also because in one section the grout is lower than the top of the bench so the water collects in the groove. Except for the crack, the grout is in good condition, and I think it would be difficult to remove. Is there any way I can put a coat of something on top of it instead?

thanks for any help,

Lisa

[Davy]

Hi Lisa, welcome. I like using the colored caulk that matches your grout. HD has many colors, Daltile and other tile shops have them as well. You can get them sanded or nonsanded to match your grout. Caulking hasta be maintained so you will need to cut it out periodically and replace it.

HD has a hand held grout saw that can be used to saw out the old grout. Seems like they are 6-7 bucks.