I had one of my upstairs showers re tiled about ten years ago. I see some of the grout at the bottom is deteriorating along the last 2" of the walls... What should I do? Re grout or re tile?

Roger is your man.

I think you can get a shot for that.

If you don’t regrout soon, you’ll be retiling.

That's what I was thinking Stick...

Sasha and Abby,

I think that This channel should help you with that decision.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCIYngkTOI-3hpgQAQM2-xhw

Epoxy grout = no deterioration

Remove existing grout. Regrout with epoxy. Make darn sure the cleaning lady is not using bleach to clean tile. Use a ph neutral tile cleaner only.
GreggH

Get the matching color grout chalk, that's what I use along the bottom and corners. It's flexible, regular grout is not and will crack and fall out, every house will have some movement. Use a good sealer also, I like Du Pont but there are others that are good.

If you have never used epoxy, get someone who has to do it.

We use epoxy grouts (the really really good stuff) in our food plants for chemical and moisture resistance. The masonry crews cuss us every time they do a job.

If the tile is all well adhered and you can’t see any indication of water damage, you should be fine with just regrouting.

Any adhesion issues you can actually see/feel would be just the tip of the iceberg and you’d be best off long term starting from scratch.

It's a pain in the ass to work with, but will last a hell of a lot longer.

Sounds like you remember your 1st experience with it, I sure do.

Tap around the base of the shower and make sure the tile is not loose, with a water logged sub-base. Do you know what base was used behind the tile? If the grout has been missing for very long there is a good chance you have water damage/mold behind the tile. If the tile is sound, let it dry out thoroughly before you caulk or re-grout. If you suspect water damage to the wall behind the tile you need to pull any loose tile and explore further or you will just be putting a band-aid over your problem. If your shower is old enough that it may have green board (water resistant drywall) behind it, I can almost grantee you will find mold and saturated backing.

Oh yeah.

thanks all...

Get some low expansion (windows and doors version) spray foam and work that in there fully . Clean off excess .

Done.



Happy Trails


Bob

If you get the grout with polymer in it, it also won't stain.

I went polyurethane grout on my shower. It's no fun to work, and expensive....but it looks great and hokds up well.

I just went this route on refurbishing a master bath. Epoxy grout all the way. No way I want to spend the money to do it again.

So do I.

I applied black epoxy grout on a white textured ceramic bathroom floor about ten years ago. It was only about forty square feet of 4"x4" tiles. But the cleanup got way ahead of me.

My wife and 8 year old granddaughter came in the house and got down with me cleaning little black specs from recesses in the tile.

The three of us could still not get it all done before the epoxy cured. There are still black flecks all over that bathroom floor. Fortunately, they almost look like they belong there.