Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jul 06, 2009 3:28 pm Hi, I'm sort of stuck in a DIY repair, and I was sort of wondering, is it best to use a) grout, or b) cement, or c) other, between the floor tiles in a shower recess? Let me explain my situation a little further. I have a federation style bathroom. The web site http://floortiler.net/html/federation_pics.html in top right corner has a pic with same tiles as used in my bathroom. In between all the floor tiles across the whole floor there is what looks like sandy cement (natural cement grey colour). It is very strong as a grouting saw just goes blunt if I try to remove it. However in the shower area I suspect the previous owners must have used hydrochrolic acid or something to clean, because all the cement is 2 to 5mm down deep from the top of the tiles, whilst the rest of the floor has the cement almost flush with the top of the tiles. Either that or it was made that way by design when the tiles were put down in the cement. About 2 years ago we got a tradie in to fix/prevent dark mould-like looking stains in between the floor tiles in the shower area that we couldn't remove (even with bleach). He said that water was being held on the grainy textured cement and said best way fix/prevent was for him to use a fine smooth grout in between the tiles and then seal it, so that the water would run over it better and dry quicker. He did the job with a light grey grout, sealed it, got paid, then left. The grout colour did not match the rest of the floor, and there were a couple of spots where the grout looked permanently wet (he told us it would eventually dry out). After a couple of months of use, it looked way worse than what we had before. In some parts the grout was thin (2mm) and had worn away showing the cement underneath. The number of spots where the grout looked permanently wet increased. Over more months parts of the grout looked greasy brownish, possibly from foot wear and soap build up. Now that over a year has past, I decided to remove the light grey grout. I've just spent many days removing the grout with a number of small grout saws, all wearing out quickly, as they grinded with the cement underneath. What made it more difficult was the tile layout pattern, no straight continous line to run my saw along. I thought a high pressure water cleaner would get th grout out, but that didn't work. Now that I've spent so much hard time getting the grout out, I want to make sure I put the right stuff back in. I really don't want to be removing grout every year or so, its too hard with these federation tiles. Any suggestions on what material I should put back in? If grout is the way to go, then should I put "Davco grout additive" in it to make it stronger, or will that make it harder to remove in future? Perhaps I should just seal top of grout only, then when it wears uneven or gets ugly, I could scratch the top off and just put more grout on top of it? Any help will be appreciated, Carl & Polly. Thank you Splashers. Tomorrow I might check if I can get a few packs of 300x300 in the same tile finish. It may be good to use these could in the shower recesses. I'm not… 4 4732 They make the room much easier to clean for one, reflect more light (if light colour tiles are used), and you dont end up with dust on the top edge of tiles (cause most… 3 9646 |