On 9/19/2013 5:54 PM, nestork wrote:
;3123812 Wrote:
Hi recently I noticed that the tile grout in the bathroom shower stall
has cracked and opened up.
I filled it with chalk but it has opened up again. I may have not used
the right product. Do I need a grout repair mix such as this one:
'Custom #381 1-qt. Bright White Premixed Grout-PMG381QT at The Home
Depot' (http://tinyurl.com/n3hyxcw)
So I need to chip away all the existing broken grout it the gap and then
just towel on the new grout mix? How long does it need to sit before I
can use the shower stall again?

Thanks

Dchou4u:

Unfortunately, what you're describing is the kind of problems when
ceramic tiling is installed over greenboard or ordinary drywall. If the
ceramic tiling starts to leak, the greenboard or drywall behind it
starts to get wet, and turn soft. Once the drywall is soft, then any
movement of the walls will result in the grout between the tiles
cracking and falling out, causing the drywall behind the tiling to get
wetter. So, you end up with the ceramic tiling equivalent of a snowball
rolling downhill. That is, the more the grout cracks and pops out, the
wetter the drywall gets and the more the grout cracks and pops out.

Builder had done my stall shower over regular drywall and it had to be
completely redone.
Took a couple of years for the problem to develop. New tiles put over
the proper cement type board and still look good after 35 years.