wrote in message ...
On Saturday, 5 November 2011 05:31:52 UTC+10, HelpMe wrote:
I have a 2 year old shower that is ceramic tile on the floors & on
the walls. It is grouted where the wall tiles meet the floor tiles. The
grout on two of these wall/floor areas is cracking where the grout meets
the tile (both the wall tile & the floor tile). How to I repair this.
Remove old grout & then caulk? Can I just caulk over the grout that is
pulling from the tile? Put clear silicone caulk over the cracking areas?
Regrout this area?
Please HELP !!!

-------------------------------------

Want to know the bad news? Because no one else is saying it.
OK, I have long experience with shower areas in Austalia at least, and
the vast majority of wall/floor joints are grouted.
This is because of longevity.
If you put caulk there, it won't last. Neither will silicone, and if silicone is smeared on it will end up looking like a permanent steak of dirt
after accumulating shower grime for years, it will be the only thing you can't clean.
Your best bet is to simply rub some more grout in there.
Problem fixed.

If you have a lot of movement in the house, you might want to try a flexible grout additive.
If you want it to last 100 years try an epoxy grout.

All of these solutions (caulk, grout & silicone) are presuming that the original gap was 2mm to 3mm between the floor and wall.

So that's my advice.
Whatever you put in, be prepared to replace it.
But I like grout.

(PS. porosity is not an issue with an underlying waterproofing membrane and
the appropriate angle of drainage.)

Thanks for this info. Same situation here. I put silicone caulk on a few years ago and sealed the crack but looks bad, like you said.

What's a good way to remove the old caulk? Is it necessary to try and scrape out the caulk that's inside the cracks?