I have a tile shower that needs a bit of renovation. The tiles are 4 1/4 inch square ceramic. This shower is thirty years old. I had a new tile floor put in it about fifteen years ago. A good pan was put under it at that time. My primary problem is that some of the joints between the tiles are discolored beyond cleaning. Also, the vertical corner joints have developed small gaps in addition to the discoloration. For years I relied on silicone rubber caulking for these trouble spots. which I had to razor out and replace from time to time. What I would like to do now is scrape out some of the material that fills the joints between tiles and replace it. I need some advice and instructions on how to do this and what products to use.
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Assuming your tiles are secure to the backerboard, you can purchase an inexpensive hand tool thats used to scrape out existing grout between the tiles. You have to be careful doing this because you don't want to chip the edges of any tiles. After cleaning out the grout lines you simply mix and apply new grout according to manufacturer's directions. I believe the preferred method is to mix the grout with a latex additive that you purchase in lieu of clean water. You can also purchase ready mixed grout.
Piece of cake. Go to HD/Lowes and buy a grout saw. Cost about $5. Looks like a plastic handle witha a small straight blade of rock salt. Get down on your hands & knees and carefully saw the grout out of the joints. It's surprisingly easy. Clean it all out, vacuum clean, and regrout.
But don't grout the corners. Use either expensive silicone caulk if you can find the right color, or go to a tile store and buy color matched grout-caulk. Comes in a caulk-gun tube, available both sanded and unsanded, and in about 20 colors. The reason not to use grout in the corners is because of the slight movement of the different plans, which will quickly crack the grout.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Thanks for answering. The corners are where I have my worst problem. They are discolored and some small cracks show. Can I scrape them to get down to clean grout and then caulk?
in my experience the color matched sanded caulk tends to gum up and seperate when exposed to alot of water (a shower for example). i havent tried it but have been told grouting the corners and then applying a thin layer of silicone over it works well.
If you buy a Multi Master they have a grout saw adaptor.