Should I caulk between the bathroom floor and shower stall?
We bought this house in April and recently finished remodelling the bathroom. The person who did the work informed us that the floor beneath the old shower stall was rotted from water. Thus we replaced the wood flooring there before applying the new tile. Although we are careful not to let excess water drip on the floor, I am worried that good habits will not be enough to avoid the floor becoming rotted out again. In fact, the ~2 month old grout looks like it already has a gap... this gap might have been there all along, but I am just now noticing it. I am wondering if it is a good idea to apply a silicone caulk over the grout in this area, or if that will just exacerbate things should moisture drip there. Pictures of the area I am describing are below. I am referring to the grout line between the gray floor tile and the base of the shower stall.
Maybe I am worrying over nothing and should leave well enough alone. This house is nearly 50 years old and I have a feeling it took about that long for the floor to get to the state we found it in. But even if it takes 50 more years for the issue to return, I would rather avoid that trouble in my old age if all it takes is a little prevention now. :)
Comments (7)
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Closing gap between floor & wall in bathroom
Comments (2)Any way you want to do it is fine; before or after flooring. You can stuff 1/4" or 3/8" polyurethane backer rod into the gap and then add caulk for a tight seal or maybe try one of those expanding foam sealants before installing your flooring....See MoreWhat walls should I tile? And other bathroom remodel Qs
Comments (0)I have a bathroom remodel about to start. Pic below shows layout but tub is oval ended. Questions are: 1. floor tile will be wood effect porcelain. I'll do at min the wall in the shower stall too, but would you do any other walls? Pros and cons? If something is not wood effect, it's gloss white (tub, vanity, cabinet, walls) 2. wall between toilet and shower: make it frosted glass? Pros and cons? 3. where to put shower fixture? On wall between toilet and shower, or to the right of that 90 degrees? Gigantic window is on exterior wall and TBD if we can actually do that... 4. curbless shower, linear drain, wetroom style - anyone have regrets about doing this? 5. wall mount or floor mount tub faucet? Pros and cons?...See MoreHelp! Long horizontal crack in bathroom shower stall wall
Comments (14)If I "ignore" the issue, and just caulk over the crack, what's the worst that could happen? Second worst: Water leaks behind the caulk, destroys the studs behind the tile and the joists in the floor, and you have to rip out the whole shower stall, wall and floor and replace everything. And do mold remediation. Worst: Water leaks in there, destroys the studs behind the tile and the joists in the floor, and you step in the shower one morning and the joists give way and you and the shower stall end up in the basement. No fooling, this happened to a friend ... he caulked around the base of a leaky toilet because he didn't want to have to remove/replace toilet and fix the problem. About a year later he sat on the toilet and ended up in the basement because the joists had rotted. The paramedics were amused....See MoreShould I request my bathroom floor tile be re-done.
Comments (11)The tile done in the second picture of my first post is actually 6 x 36 wood look porcelain tile ( a different company though). It is laid the same way as mine. It is was done by the main tiler and looks beautiful. It is 1/8 grout lines no lippage at all! I would post a picture of it but it is all covered up right now. I was harsh about the second guy helping him because he had already cut a lot of corners with other things. He wasted a lot of tile getting cuts wrong - which the other contractors themselves were complaining about and bringing some to my attention. Some really bad cuts I noticed he tried to pressure me in to accepting - when I almost caved another one came to me and confirmed it was not good. He basically tiled my kitchen and left the molding on the wall. On top of that all the cuts against the molding were jagged. Like one part would up against the molding and the farthest was .5 to an inch. When I asked what would happen with it he was just answered that it would all be filled in with grout. Dark grout that would make it stand out even more. EDIT :: Here is the link to her tile: https://www.lowes.com/pd/CERAMICAS-TESANY-Tahoe-Gray-Wood-Look-Porcelain-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-Common-6-in-x-36-in-Actual-5-82-in-x-35-29-in/1000379225 Maybe her tile - despite being larger, allows it. If that's the case, I can wrap this around my head and get over it. However, if hers is similar to mine and the good tiler is able to do it without lippage in that layout with smaller grout line - I would like to go for it. EDIT:: Is this another possible solution. When they relay it Would relaying it to overlap in thirds instead of 1/2 help. I am not to particular about that if it will help me get the smaller grout lines....See More
Elana
5 years ago
millworkman