I'm guessing that your bottom tiles are on the shower floor? Really, I don't think the grout lines should be turning black in two days in a new home unless you have an excessive amount of heat and humidity in your shower area. If your grout was sealed and no water can get under the grout and grow mold, it should not be turning black so quickly. If your house is new -- have the shower construction checked. The bleach is disguising the real problem; in most homes bleach will clean/remove surface mould, but when it comes back repeatedly so quickly, something else is going on beneath the surface. It's possible that all you need to do is clean with your bleach; let it dry well and seal it. If that doesn't work, get an expert in to check it out before it becomes a more serious problem. Good luck.

thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Eric. We can probably save/budget down the road for a kitchen redo, or do part of it ourselves. Additions would be a little harder for us except finish work (floors, tile, etc. Can do drywall even but would need to find time to do it). What that kitchen has is a U shaped layout, not too bad except there are overhanging cabinets between a small dining/family space and the kitchen. It's a counter/pass through kind of setup where someone can sit at stools and talk with the person in the kitchen....except the cabinets hang down so the person in the kitchen has to look under them. We would likely tear those out and relocate the stovetop to the perimeter wall and make that pass through an island. Then that entire space could become kitchen/dining. It is possible we could still move out a wall on that (kitchen) side of the house down the road too, we are in Hawaii so all the construction costs are much, much higher than mainland. So jealous of all the posters here who can put on a large extension for less than 50K. Plan A or Plan B will cost us about the same. We don't plan to sell and move anytime soon, but should we need to we're leaning toward sq. footage instead of just extending current bath and upgrading the kitchen. Our neighborhood is about 20 years old so people are beginning to redo those rooms as the fixtures and appliances are ageing. We redid all the appliances about three years ago with stainless finishes, new faucet/sink, and redid the countertop Corian, so the kitchen is livable - just need to clear out some clutter and make smarter usage on available storage space. We could paint or restain the cabinet doors to freshen it up. A few neighbors are creating the "big bang" kitchen now but I'm not certain a 70K upgrade will improve the value that much as a new neighborhood is planned about 5 miles away within the next couple of years. Would we love to live in a "WOW" kitchen, of course. But as with most people we have to make a decision on where it is best to spend the money for now. We could feasibly also add on a 2nd story in future years, but we prefer the single story and if we age-in-place as planned, the new bath will include wide accesses and no-curb shower.

It looks like the wall has deteriorated behind the tile, which isn't unusual when water has had places to get behind the tile, especially if the apartment was built many decades ago. What is peeling off is probably a silicone caulk that someone put over the grout lines to attempt to reduce the water infiltration through the grout lines, is my guess. My experience with my old house (built in 1929) is that there is no fix for the tile after there is so much water deterioration of the wall behind the tile, short of removing all of the damaged wall, replacing it with cement board or whatever is the most up-to-date wall product these days, and then re-tiling. I'm sure you're not going to do that work for a place you rent. What we did before we bit the bullet and replaced the tub/shower walls, is to neatly duct tape white vinyl shower curtain liners to the wall to prevent further damage. Put them up high on the wall but make sure they cover all the way down to the top of the tub. The liners are cheap---like $3-$5. They keep the wall dry. And you won't have to look at the crappy walls if you get white liners rather than clear. It's not an elegant fix, but it will work for 3 months. In any case, old wet walls deteriorate and it shouldn't be something that the landlord holds you responsible for. Not sure how to clean it for now. Elbow grease, scrubby sponges, and household cleaner with hot water? Looks like it will take some doing.

Thanks for the laugh about "purified angel's tears"! I'm really leaning towards marble in the shower area...I did some internet research and read that a diluted bleach solution is okay. I'm not sure what think! I printed out catmom's reply (THANK YOU!)with all the product names in case we decide to go with natural stone. Went tile looking again today and saw some pretty porcelains, which I know are much less maintenance. Nothing is "set in stone" LOL:)