Our tile guy finished our shower. It’s been a 6 week project (redoing the entire bath) so we’re happy to see it finished.
The tile guy was OK. For what we paid, I think it was a pretty good job. A few things I’d like to fix though, if possible:
All of the interior tiled corners of the shower were caulked. Unfortunately, the tile is a very slight off-white, and the caulk, of course, is bright white, so it looks rather odd (you notice the caulk more than anything). Is there such thing as off-white caulk? I don’t think clear will work, as I think the caulk is covering some large uneven joints in the corners.
Also, there’s some rather large grout joints around our shower niches. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the cleanest tile job around the niches. Some of the joints are about 1/4″ thing and have formed some hairline cracks in them. Will grout sealer effectively seal these or should I try forcing more grout into these cracks?
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If he in fact used "caulk" in the corners I'd scrape it out and grout it. Never heard of using caulk in corners. Only place I use it is where a tub top meets the tile.
He probably added too much water to the grout which later cracked. I'd mix the grout to a proper consistancu and regrout there as well after scraping some grout back out but the new grout may come out a slightly different color if mixed at a different consistancy but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to make it functually correct.
Its always better to add a hair less water to the grout than too much water.
By the way.... SIX WEEKS??? Sure'd love to see some pic
Be well
andyC
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
alas, I'm not sure if grouting the corners will work. I'll be scraping out the caulk and seeing what I got. Unfortunately, he used snips to cut the tile instead of the tile cutter I had, so the inside corner tiles are rather ragged (and, I'm assuming, why he put Caulk on it). I guess I need to decide if bright white caulk is better or worse than really ragged joints in the corner.There's a few spots that need regrouting anyways, so I'll go ahead and try regrouting the bigger joints...with less water. Thanks for that tip.As for 6 weeks, well, it wasn't 6 weeks full time. Mainly an hour a night afterwork during that time. I'll definitely post some pics once I get the final touch up coat of paint on.
you might look for a 1/4 round accent tile to use in the corners.The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
Darrel,
caluking the corners is SOP here, anytime there is a plane change the inside corner gets caulked insted of grouted, with color matched caulk ( or something VERY close)
as far as your 1/4" grout joint cracking I would put that down to not using sanded grout ( just guessing here that he used unsanded), any joint over 1/8" gets sanded grout for strength or it will crack, well it will also crack if too much water is added to the grout also.
good luck
james
"with color matched caulk"Ah, so there is such a thing. Where does one get that? The big boxes have white, almond, and clear. Not a wide range.
"as far as your 1/4" grout joint cracking I would put that down to not using sanded grout"Nope. No sand. Most of the joints are small (less than 1/8") It was just near the niche where he had some probelms and ended up with a 1/4" joint on the outside corner. I'll see if I can get some sanded grout and redo the outside joint on the niches. It's standard white grout, so hopefully it won't be too hard to match.The main grip is the caulk though. Knowing that there is color matched caulk will make that look just fine I think.
Look in the tile section, not the paint section where all the other caulk lives. Lowes has a colored grout/caulk for their prelaid tile panel floring, I believe it remains flexible.
I have always heard caulk, not grout, anytime there is a change of plane.
Yeah, in the tile section they have all the colored caulk.......I've even got some that was sanded, and looked almost exactly like the grout. If you find the right color, i'd even put some of that around where the showhead/ valve body come out of the wall
Caulk is more flexible obviously than grout, and that is why it is used where one has a change in planes e.g. corners or where the wall meets the floor. When you selected the grout color you should have selected a color matched caulk. Most of the manufacturers have them. There should be no "of course the caulk is bright white." Was the grout sanded or unsanded? The "large" joints should have sanded grout.