My shower has tile walls and a fiberglass bottom. As far as I know (I have
lived here 12 years) it has never been recaulked, and it is about time.

I started to remove the old caulk and found it is hard and grainy. Could it
be grout rather than caulk? If it is grout, can I clean it up and put caulk
over it? Or do I have to dig it out and regrout?
Or is it not grout?

The rest of the walls are in pretty good condition, it is only where the
base and the wall meet that are deteriorated.

Thanks.
Thanks.

I started to remove the old caulk and found it is hard and grainy

Get out your propane torch and see if a little sample will burn. Most grouts
are low in organic material content and will probably not ignite. Silicones
abused in flame will leave a white ash behind. Testing reaction to a paint
remover with methylene chloride content might be informative. A grout would
probably show littlle effect.

I'll leave the grout vs. caulk question to more experienced tile experts. HTH

Joe

The material between the shower base and bottom row of ceramic tile is most
likely grout. IMHO, the best course of action would be to remove the grout
and caulk the seam with "Tub and Tile Caulking". Don't use grout because in
time it will crack again. Removal of the grout can be accomplished fairly
easily with a "Stanley" or "General" scribe that has a 90 degree scribe on
one end and a straight scribe on the other end. Use the straight end of the
scribe to put additional fractures in the grout and use the 90 degree scribe
to pull the broken pieces of grout out of the seam.


"toller" wrote in message
...
My shower has tile walls and a fiberglass bottom. As far as I know (I
have
lived here 12 years) it has never been recaulked, and it is about time.

I started to remove the old caulk and found it is hard and grainy. Could
it
be grout rather than caulk? If it is grout, can I clean it up and put
caulk
over it? Or do I have to dig it out and regrout?
Or is it not grout?

The rest of the walls are in pretty good condition, it is only where the
base and the wall meet that are deteriorated.

Thanks.
Thanks.

It is grout. It should remain grout for drainage reasons. Dig out the old,
deteriorated grout and re-grout. The grout is porous and allows the
moisture that goes through to weep down the underlayment and out the bottom
over the lip of the shower pan.
Many people just caulk but that traps the moisture and you will soon have an
nice black line of mildew around the bottom the needs to be re-done every
few months.

Inspector Dana
"toller" wrote in message
...
My shower has tile walls and a fiberglass bottom. As far as I know (I
have
lived here 12 years) it has never been recaulked, and it is about time.

I started to remove the old caulk and found it is hard and grainy. Could
it
be grout rather than caulk? If it is grout, can I clean it up and put
caulk
over it? Or do I have to dig it out and regrout?
Or is it not grout?

The rest of the walls are in pretty good condition, it is only where the
base and the wall meet that are deteriorated.

Thanks.
Thanks.