I've tiled my own two bathrooms and my kitchen backsplash, so when my adult daughter's shower sprung a leak at her "new" (circa 1950) home, DH & I came to the rescue. Ripped out the whole tub surround (it gave up without a fight), fixed the plumbing, reinsulated, added backerboard, taped, mudded and commenced to tiling. Got complicated around the tub; being an old steel tub, it has about a 1" flange around the top edges as though it's supposed to bolt to something? We ran the backerboard down to within 1/4th" of that flange, did the tape /mud/dry time thing and then commenced to tiling. When I got to the grout, I must say, the grout was a tad drier than I'd liked for it to be, but I worked quickly and thought I'd done okay. We spaced the bottom row of tile to cover that backerboard/flange gap, which it did okay. Then I left my daughters to finish grouting the normal 1/4th gap around the edge of the tub. I would have used caulk, but since the gap varied some, the girls used the regular grout to finish off that bottom edge and the corners. Are you with me so far? It looked really nice. Now I notice a lot of little tiny cracks in the grout all over and I'm thinking I'll be okay to just smash in another coat of it. (She hasn't used any tile sealer, yet.) EXCEPT.........she called tonite to say the whole bottom row of that grout is soaking wet, coming out in big soggy clumps and some of the tile with it. My thoughts are that she didn't let the tile cure enough before going in and using it, so now we need to pull out all the soggy stuff and redo it from there. So, the questions are: did we handle the backerboard/tile/grout around that flange right? Or is there just enough movement in a steel tub to disallow a grout (vs caulk) to flex. If that makes any sense.......And the second question is: am I on the right track to fix it? How long does it REALLY take for tile to cure enough to take a shower? Please tell me I don't have to take down this whole job.....this is a single mother with a TEENAGE daughter who will just DIE if she doesn't get to shower. Thanks for reading this far............. mm

Typically, the grout can vary depending on a lot of factors. Some Companies' grout is famous for that. An example is Custom's grout in light browns and grays. Another factor is the installer. Were ALL the batches mixed the same? Did they use too much water in some areas in cleaning the grout/tile? Are you on well water? Are the stars in proper alignment? Many factors contribute to this.....

You can purchase colorants specifically for grout. You are right, tricky because the tile hasn't been sealed, you will have to be very precise and patient with your application, perhaps even taping off each tile. Try a test area first.

If you don't have a nice gap under your bathroom door, so make up air can enter as your fan is running, you wont move the air out the ducting. Dry the caulking and corners with a towel daily or after every shower. Don't leave the niches damp either. I have never had an issue in the 6 years I've had my new shower. I don't squeegee, I wipe with a giant microfiber towel daily. I pay particular attention to the corners and change of planes. I keep an eagle eye on the caulking to be sure nothing is growing. Nothing is growing. Grout is not supposed to be sealed, so that it can evaporate the moisture. At least that is how I understand the function of cement type grouts. Its the wall system that keeps the water out of the stud space. Same with a tiled floor, I believe. A question for the tile experts. Like others have said, good venting/functioning exhaust fan, and daily thorough wipe downs keep everything looking nice.