UGH I had to do a similar thing, budge...Made me want to scream...except my guy lied and said he'd removed the grout, thinking I wouldn't check under the mile-wide caulkline.

I agree. Unfortunately way too many of them won't do it anyway, and it's the last thing they do, so they're wanting to be OUT of there and on to the next job. Grouting is so much easier than taking the trouble to leave the line and come back and caulk. The customer just has to deal with it later, but who cares about that?

grrrrrrr

Oh fly, that was you. I remember reading it at about the same time they were messing up/doing our bathroom and thinking at least my idiot didn't use epoxy grout.

I think I've got it all off now. I've set up a small heater fan to blow in behind the tub. Luckily there is an 8" hole in the wall in DD's bedrm that opens into the space behind the tub so I can get it nice and dry.

On the one hand, I don't want that dumb____ anywhere near my house again, but I would also love to have him come back and show him that I was right so he won't do it again. I know he still thinks he was right and I was wrong. But I guess if you don't mind an inch wide silicone caulk mess around your tub, his way works too.

So here's a question for the tiling experts (Bill ? Mongo ? anyone else who would venture an answer ?) ... my tile guy is old-school. He pretty much insisted on mud-jobs for my bathroom and kitchen backsplash. Today they are finishing up the tilework, and will most likely grout on Monday. I haven't yet seen any caulk used or mentioned. Should plane-changes be caulked (rather than grouted) for mud-jobs just like other tilework ?

Short answer~~~~yes.

If he's "old school" then he's probably doing a full thickness mud job. If reinforcement is wrapped through the corners, then I say he can grout the corners.

Some guys pass off a thin veneer over cement board as being a "mud job". If that's the case, then it's really a lightweight installation and I'd caulk.

Mongo

Nope I think this is definitely full thickness. He papers, then chickenwire, then muds the walls with a 3/4" layer of mud,then thinset and tile. Like so ...

So grouting corners *might* be OK ?

Wow. I wondered why in old bathroom there was grout in the corners and it didn't crack. Must have been a thick mudjob.

flatcoat, if grouting corners is o.k. with that kind of construction (and I have no doubt that it is, given that mongo is the person who says it), you can probably also use that room as an earthquake/fallout shelter. It must be SOLID.

It'd certainly be more solid than a normal thinset job, that's for sure. The wire in the mud acts just like rebar in concrete. It ain't goin NO WHERE!! :-)

Oh cr@p. I got it all ready and THEN went to the store for the caulk. Of course they are sold out of the colour I need.

If your still out there Bill - they have the unsanded in the colour I need, but no sanded. The space is quite wide should I wait until the sanded is available? Do you use sanded caulk in the same way you use sanded grout - ie, for wider grout lines?

budge,

Since you;re in a time bind, I'll chime in...sanded versus unsanded caulk is not performance related, it's purely aesthetic. You can use either.

Thank you, Mongo!

Sorry about that! :-)

flyleft, LOL ! Yep, maybe it's a San Francisco thing, but this guy spent forever floating out those walls. 17 bags of cement (?) for a 8.5'x6.5' bathroom .... I'll call it my earthquake shelter :-)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention his prepwork for the FLOORS ! "Drypack", I believe it's called. I think this guy has something against cement board :-)

LOL That's quite a fallout shelter! It looks like mine :) Under all of that cement they have marine grade plywood, then studs every 8" or so....If it weren't on the fifth floor...I'd almost feel safe in there :oP