Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Aug 14, 2013 1:46 pm Our house is currently being rented by a friend and when we were visiting last weekend I noticed that the shower was in a pretty bad condition. The grout is falling out, the silicon is peeling and a lot of mould is building up around the base where the silicon is now bumpy as half has peeled off. The bathroom was prob renovated 10 or so years ago - we have owned the property for 8 years. We don't want to do too much to it as we are renting it and when we move back in a couple of years we will prob renovate it anyway as its become to small for us (not because its of poor quality). So in the meantime what would you suggest we do? I am assuming any missing grout etc is a leak issue just waiting to happen (if not already). The tiles appear to be all fine (there is a couple in front of the shower door that are cracked and one has dropped) but in the shower the ones on the wall are fine and the shower has a base which is fine. Is regrouting expensive due to the removal of the existing grout? but is that the cheapest, best fix for the moment? thanks! Re: regrouting shower 2Aug 16, 2013 10:13 am The grout is just there for looks. If the bathroom was renovated properly the guys who did it would have stripped out the bathroom and laid a waterproofing membrane down before tiling. That is what stops water leaks not the grout. Raking out all the grout and cutting back/removing the silicon is a pain in the butt job -that's why it costs but once it has been replaced your bathroom should look a whole lot better. Stewie Re: regrouting shower 3Aug 16, 2013 9:36 pm Yeah, what Stewie said, it's the waterproofing that stops the water not the grout. We need to do this too and we're sorta undecided about whether to regrout or do a whole reno, there are other things in the bathroom that need fixing like cracks at the cornice, so how long do we keep doing little fixes . Could I please ask, how hard is it to DIY regrouting and also if you do the floor how careful have you got to be to not damage the waterproofing underneath. I imagine it was easier in the old days when you'd hit metal, is it possible to accidentally scape off the newer style waterproofings? Re: regrouting shower 5Aug 17, 2013 11:16 pm As I said it is a real pain in the butt to do. If you are after a short to medium term fix just do the areas you need to do to make the bathroom look acceptable and no more. Believe me after you've done a couple of sq m of tiles you'll agree. It is not hard - just elbow grease and time required. You should only be going down 5mm or so for floor tiles so you shouldn't be anywhere near the waterproofing. Most floor tiles are fixed onto a 20-30mm bed of sand/cement base with the waterproofing below that. Stewie Re: regrouting shower 6Aug 23, 2013 4:56 pm Thanks Stewie. I wish I knew what our builder did, turned out he could be rather minimal at times. But even doing only the worst area which is on one wall would make it look a lot better for the short term. Re: regrouting shower 8Aug 26, 2013 5:29 pm Carefully... I did a small job recently (to replace 3 tiles) and used a dremmel. They have a special guide and bit, but I just used a standard bit. A friend of mine did his whole bathroom and used one of those 'renovator' style tools. Be very careful with all of them to not nick or cut into the tiles. Re: regrouting shower 9Aug 28, 2013 9:20 am If your grout is missing or falling out then it maybe the tile causing this. We do re grouts everyday and the ones that have grout missing is due to the tile adhesive coming loose from the wall. You test this by knocking on the tiles by hand just as you would on someones door and if loose you will hear a different sound guaranteed. Once all grout is removed around the tile you will have to scrap of the old adhesive from the back of the tile and wall, clean than re sit back to the wall. Install un sanded grout the next day ( do not use pre mixed grout in a tube ) If you want to remove the grout cheaply you can use a stanley knife and scrap out but be careful not to chip the corners of the tiles slow and easy is the go. You Tube have some good videos on re grouting to see how it is done. We use a demel but that is for small jobs. For larger jobs we would use the fien oscilating tool. Re: regrouting shower 11Jul 11, 2014 12:44 pm Stewie D As I said it is a real pain in the butt to do. If you are after a short to medium term fix just do the areas you need to do to make the bathroom look acceptable and no more. Believe me after you've done a couple of sq m of tiles you'll agree. It is not hard - just elbow grease and time required. You should only be going down 5mm or so for floor tiles so you shouldn't be anywhere near the waterproofing. Most floor tiles are fixed onto a 20-30mm bed of sand/cement base with the waterproofing below that. Stewie Yep, I have to agree with Stewie. You should only be going down 5mm. I'll look into different shower heads and ask the plumber about some engineering and see what he says. Thanks 2 9551 Hi All, about to commence a bathroom renovation and need some advice on subfloor works. Current subfloor is hardwood T&G floorboards on 90x45 joists, but intention is to… 0 5816 Ask yourself if the insurance company will be aware of the Reno. 4 7355 |