Regrouting tub showers – How do you know when it’s time to do it? If your tub shower grout is difficult to clean, or is cracked or missing in spots, then it may be time to consider regrouting. Even the best installation can become dingy over time. Exposure to the chemicals in soaps, shampoo and cosmetics can cause discoloration. And since grout is somewhat porous, it can absorb tints or pigments from chemicals. (We once had to regrout a shower because the homeowner was very diligent about using Blue Windex. Every day. On her white grout….until she finally ended up with blue grout!) If you need to get a quote, feel free to fill out the form at the end of this page. Or just call or text us at 617-221-4002
Our general rule of thumb is that if you can clean your grout back to life, you don’t need regrouting. But once you have tried your best and it doesn’t look much better after cleaning, then it may be time to say goodbye to the old grout. That’s when regrouting the tub shower makes more sense, since it’s a more guaranteed great looking result.
The before and after effect of regrouting tub showers can be pretty dramatic. The photos above are from a job we did in the suburbs west of Boston. The work was all completed in one day. Part of the work is a very deep cleaning of the tiles and the tub. After all, we’re shooting for that ‘brand new look’!
This next job was in Milton, Massachusetts. It was finished in one day and restored the original look of the tile.
Before and After Regouting Tub Shower
The first step is to take out enough of the existing grout to form a channel for new grout. That works best for unsanded grout, which is softer than sanded grout. Then we scrape out the old caulking in corners and edges. After deep cleaning, we apply fresh grout and then fresh caulking.
If you’re ready to say hello to a fresher new shower and want it done all in one day, give us a call at 617-221-4002 and we’ll get it done for you!
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 https://cleanpolishmarblegraniteboston.com 617-221-4002 Text or Call
If you notice cracks, missing grout, or discoloration in your shower grout, the temptation may be to regrout it yourself. How hard can it be, right? After all, if you go to a search engine and enter the phrase ‘regrout shower,’ you’ll see boatloads of entries showing you how to do it yourself, like this one from True Value.
Not to pick on the fine folks at True Value, but…is it really so easy to regrout a shower? Is it REALLY a good do-it-yourself task?
Of course, we have a bias here at Act One. (But you sort of figured that out already, right?)
I’m going to go out on a limb a bit to say that shower regrouting is a task best left to professional contractors. Especially folks that do it all the time. That doesn’t rule out tile installation companies, but it doesn’t automatically rule them in, either. (On the one hand, installers do know how to apply fresh grout to new tile work that has no grout, but they don’t often spend much time taking old grout out…and that’s arguably the most important part and time consuming part of the job.) It does rule out handymen or handywomen who only occasionally deal with tile. And with a few exceptions, it rules out most homeowners, except the most determined and the most lucky.
Quiz – Are You Ready to Regrout Your Shower?
So let’s do a quick quiz to see if you’re one of the fortunate souls who can get away with paying minimal expenses and have the satisfaction of a job well done. The list shows the questions first and the answers are below. No cheating! Answer before you look below!
Are you regrouting your shower mainly for fixing a water leak?
Do you know whether your shower has sanded or unsanded grout? How can you tell?
Do you need to take all the old grout out before applying new grout?
What is the one tool you need to remove old grout?
If only the bottom half of the shower walls needs regrouting, would you regrout only the bottom half of the wall?
Should you use premixed grout?
What are the major differences between shower walls and shower floors for regrouting purposes?
Where should caulking go?
Do you grout before caulking or caulk before grouting?
What consistency should grout be for maximum future durability?
If grout has cracked in an area and you notice the tiles move slightly at that area, will regrouting fix this?
Quiz Answers
Are you regrouting your shower mainly for fixing a water leak?
Answer: I hope not! Grout is not waterproof, so using grout to solve a leaking problem is like using a screen door to stop wind. Regrouting is a cosmetic issue. Most leaks are plumbing problems or poor design issues. If you need a plumber, best to call a plumber. A beautifully regrouted shower may still leak.
Do you know whether your shower has sanded or unsanded grout? How can you tell?
Answer: If you don’t know the difference, maybe reconsider the task. Unsanded grout is smooth and usually has thin grout lines of 1/8 inch or 1/16 inch. These can be pulled out and replaced. Sanded grout is usually thicker and looks and feels rough to the touch. In most cases, you should not try to pull out sanded grout. That’s because it is so strong that it needs extreme measures to remove it. That increases the risk that you’ll scratch the surface of the tiles. For shower walls with sanded grout, we usually recommend recoloring the grout lines instead of regrouting
Do you need to take all the old grout out before applying new grout?
Answer: In most cases, you need to take out some unsanded grout, but it’s impossible to get all of it out. It’s also not necessary, since all you need is enough of a channel to hold new unsanded grout.
What is the one tool you need to remove old grout?
Answer: Trick question. There isn’t only one tool. On any given regrouting job, we may use a utility knife with quick release to change the blades often, a carbon steel triangle shaped tool, a carbon steel cement board scoring knife and a Multimax style power tool with adjustable diamond tipped blade. In contrast with much of the advice online, the one tool we’ve found pretty useless is a grout saw.
If only the bottom half of the shower walls needs regrouting, would you regrout only the bottom half of the wall?
Answer: If you do, you’ll end up with a two-toned ‘Frankenshower’ look. Better off to do the whole thing so it all looks uniform.
Should you use premixed grout?
Answer: If you do, you will probably regret it. Mixing grout powder with water is by no means the hard part of the job. But premixed grout is incredibly difficult to clean off the tiles, and almost no one gets it clean enough. That creates a permanently smeary look that is unfixable. That’s why pros never use that product.
What are the major differences between shower walls and shower floors for regrouting purposes?
Answer: Shower walls are usually fairly dry behind the tiles and often have unsanded grout. Shower floors are much wetter beneath the tiles, which can slow down drying time. Additionally, floor tiles are often mosaics, so there are many more grout lines. On top of that, they are most often sanded grout, so they are harder to remove the grout and colorsealer usually won’t work.
Where should caulking go?
Answer: Caulking is designed to go in 90 degree angle changes of plane, not between the tiles on the flat parts of the walls.
Do you grout before caulking or caulk before grouting?
Answer: Grout before caulking.
What consistency should grout be for maximum future durability?
Answer: Like thick peanut butter. If you mix it up soupy, the grout won’t be durable.
If grout has cracked in an area and you notice it moves slightly, will regrouting fix this?
Answer: Maybe not. That’s more likely a structural issue. You might need a new shower. So regrouting it might be like painting the deck of the Titanic.
How did you do on the quiz? If you aced it and feel like tackling a shower grout job and have a spare day or two of time and energy, have at it! But if you felt like you were a bit out of your league, don’t feel bad. The very first regrout I did took me parts of three days! I truly felt sorry for the very patient and longsuffering client! These days it’s usually a one day job.
If you’d like to get a quote on the work, feel free to call or text us at 617-221-4002 or fill out the form below. We usually ask if you can send us a photo or two showing the overall size and layout of the shower.
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 https://cleanpolishmarblegraniteboston.com 617-221-4002 Text or Call
Let’s face it – showers face a lot of wear and tear, including exposure to hot water, soaps and shampoos as well as sometimes harsh cleaning chemicals. After a while, mineral deposits can build up as well, making the shower look tired and needing some help. In this situation, shower wall tile regrouting can make a world of difference, usually in only one day.
This project was from a homeowner in Newton. The family had a shower where the wall grout had become cracked in some areas and was discolored in places. Of course, they always had the option of tearing out the shower, remodeling the entire room. Then they would have a shower that was brand new. Except that option has some drawbacks…… Like dust all over, weeks without a shower, tradesmen traipsing through their house for what seems like eternity and thousands and thousands of dollars!
Shower wall tile regrouting, on the other hand, is a one day project, costs much less, and leaves your house clean and neat. And the results? Check the before and after photos below to see for yourself.
It’s important to note that this is not just a ‘cleaning’ of the grout. It’s an actual physical replacement, taking out the old grout and applying fresh grout.
For unsanded, smooth grout, we use different hand tools to remove the grout, including razor blades, carbon steel scoring knives and sometimes power tools with diamond tipped blades for tough areas. Removing enough of the old grout is important for creating a channel for new grout.
We always do a deep cleaning of the tiles when regrouting. That way, the new grout next to clean tiles looks like a brand new installation, minus all the dust and aggravation of a remodeling project!
Tub Shower Before RegroutTub Shower After Regrout
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 https://cleanpolishmarblegraniteboston.com 617-221-4002 Text or Call
Even a well built shower may eventually need some attention to grout and caulking. This job in Amesbury Massachusetts included regrouting wall tile and also regrouting the shower floor. Shower floors can be problematic to regrout, since they often have much harder sanded grout. That’s difficult to remove and the smaller size tiles mean lots of grout lines. There can be problems with slow drying grout due to moisture beneath the floor tiles.
Regrouting wall tile is much more common, since shower walls usually have much softer unsanded grout. That’s the type we can typically remove and completely replace. Still, we can often regrout shower floors, even if we have to use extra efforts and some power tools to grind out the old grout.
In this case, the homeowner decided that regrouting wall tile was not enough, so we replaced the grout on both floor and walls.
Most jobs where we are regrouting wall tile only can be done in one day. Sometimes including the floor can mean we need to come back a second day. That’s what was needed for this job – we just ran out of hours on day one.
We carefully scraped out enough old grout to form a solid channel for new grout. Then we scraped out old caulking in the corners and edges, followed by a thorough cleaning of floor and walls. Then we add fresh grout and caulking. In many cases, it looks like a brand new shower!
If you’d like similar results, feel free to call or text us at 617-221-4002 or fill out the form below and we’ll get you a firm quote asap.
If you’d like to see more regrouting pages, check these links:
A homeowner in Bedford gave us a call for their kitchen and dining room floor. The rich red and earth tones of their tile was great, but the grout had become discolored and uneven looking. No amount of cleaning seemed to make any difference, so they wanted an overhaul of the look. Recoloring the sanded grout was the solution.
Also, some of the tiles were a bit loose. They were concerned that the tiles might crack if we didn’t address that issue. So the first order of business was to stabilize the tiles. To do that, we removed the grout around them and injected a commercial adhesive to try to bond the tiles in place. This doesn’t always work, but it’s worth trying, since it’s a low cost, low risk effort compared to complete replacement of the tiles.
After we finished that, it was time to address the grout lines. If this were a shower wall tile with thin lines, the grout would be unsanded grout, which is much softer so we can manually remov and replace it. But sanded grout is much physically harder and the wider lines mean it’s virtually impossible to grind out the grout without risking damage to lots of the tiles.
Our solution for this is recoloring sanded grout lines. Grout manufacturers for the last 20 years or so have been producing a tinted sealer that matches the colors of their grouts. We’ve used similar products from multiple different manufacturers and they all seem to work fine. So the main reason to choose one product over another is the color you want and the availability. We often use Custom Building Products brand, since they are sold locally.
So they chose a rich red earthy color for the grout lines. Photos below, much improved appearance.
If you have a floor or wall with sanded grout, it can be recolored to make it look like new. Just call or text us at 617-221-4002 or fill in the form at the end of this post and we’ll get back to you asap.
BEFOREAFTER
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 617-221-4002 Text or Call
We frequently get called on for regrouting shower walls. This step is more than just a heavy duty cleaning. It usually involves pulling out the old grout, cleaning all the tiles and then applying brand new fresh grout. While pulling out the old grout and caulking is time consuming, it’s needed since the new grout needs to have space to fit so it will bond well. Skimcoating with fresh grout may look good, but it can flake off if not applied right.
SHOWER BEFORE AND AFTER REGROUT
Showers take a beating with exposure to water, harsh cleaning chemicals as well as soaps and shampoos that can discolor the grout over time. If it’s come to the point that you try to clean the grout, but it just doesn’t seem to ‘bounce back’, it may be time for you to consider regrouting the wall tile.
Some hardy folks try to do this job themselves. Results are not always stellar, because recaulking and regrouting shower wall tiles are skills that take some time and experience. (We sometimes get the call to ‘fix’ a homeowner regrout!) Also, the technique is different for sanded grout versus unsanded grout. If a homeowner doesn’t know the difference before starting, it can results in damaged/scratched tiles and lots of wasted energy. (For the difference between sanded and unsanded grout, this grout selection article on Daltile explains the details well.)
The photos from this job in Lexington show how much of a difference it can make in appearance – much fresher and brighter looking.
Before Regrouting Shower WallsAfter Regrouting Shower Walls
If you have a shower in Eastern Massachusetts that needs some TLC, just call or text us at 617-221-4002 or fill in the form at the bottom of this page and we’ll get you a quote. If you can send us a photo or two showing the overall size and layout of the shower, that will speed up the process.
For more examples of regrouting shower walls and some floors, see the links at the bottom of the page.
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 617-221-4002 Text or Call
ARLINGTON SHOWER FLOOR BEFORE REGROUT CLOSE UP NEAR DRAIN
ARLINGTON SHOWER FLOOR REGROUTED CLOSE UP NEAR DRAIN
sanded grout shower floor close view before regrout
sanded grout shower overall view after regrout
SHOWER FLOOR CLOSE UP BEFORE REGROUT
SHOWER FLOOR CLOSE UP REGROUTED
Shower floors take a beating and get lots of wear and tear over time. If yours is starting to show its age, and you can’t get it clean enough, consider regrouting it.
Regrouting shower floors can be a challenge, however. They usually have sanded grout, which is tougher to remove than the thin lines of wall grout. Because of the difficulty in removing the old grout, some contractors say “Regrouting a shower floor – we can’t do it”.
They may be right, in some cases. There are times when the grout is so tough and there’s so much of it that it’s not cost effective to remove it. But sometimes the grout is recessed enough that there’s no need to dig very deep. All we need is enough room for new grout to bond correctly and some grout does not need much room. So if your grout is recessed enough, regrouting your shower floor may be a doable project.
Additionally, when removal is necessary, we’ve had good success using a diamond blade power tool, some carbide steel blades and a synthetic grout that stands up to heavy duty use. The exact shape of the tiles may affect this. Square grid layouts that create long straight lines are more feasible than hexagon or circular shaped tiles, for example.
Some shower floors dry very slowly due to moisture beneath the tiles, so we aren’t always sure how long it will take to dry. This is different from wall tile regrouting, which dries within a day or two. That’s due to the water trapped in the 2 inches or so of deck mud cement directly under the tile. (You can thank the Massachusetts Plumbing Code for allowing flat bottomed shower pan liners. The section for those interested is 248 CMR 10.10(7)(d).These allow the concrete under the tile to remain ‘perma-wet’ for years at a time. In some other states, these are illegal. This is often the culprit for slow drying grout).
The photos above show before and after shots of shower floors we’ve regrouted using this method. And while it can’t offer a total guarantee against water leaks and moisture penetration, at least it may help, since this grout is much less porous than regular cement grout.
If you click on each photo, you’ll get a larger screen version of the shower with better resolution, then you can click the back arrow on your browser to go back.
If you’d like to get a quote, you can call or text us at 617-221-4002 or simply fill out the form below.
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 617-221-4002 Text or Call
Regrouting Slate Shower – BeforeRegrouting Slate Shower – After
We get lots of calls to regrout tile and stone showers. That is to say, we end up regrouting LOTS of showers, including this beautifully designed slate shower.
One reason it’s a popular service is simple – it works!
Even though it’s usually only a one day project, it can have a very dramatic effect on the whole look of the room. In fact, it can make the shower look ‘like new’ without having to go through the dust and delay of remodeling.
In addition, regrouting and caulk replacement is a very logical way to keep the grout and caulking in a good state of repair. Also, it may help reduce unnecessary leaking and water damage, even though that isn’t a guarantee.
In December we got a request from a condo owner in Boston for cleaning and regrouting his slate shower. The shower was very solid, with a beautifully installed slate tile with strong color variations. He wanted the stone professionally cleaned because a film of old sealers and hard water deposits was interfering with the look of the wall.
You can get a larger image by clicking on the photos above.
We did a heavy duty cleaning of the stone, scraped out the old grouting, removed the old caulking and replaced the grout and caulk with a colored version that complemented the stone. Then we sealed the stone with a stone color enhancing sealer that works well with slate. Right after our job, the tub was scheduled to be refinished, so in order to coordinate with the refinishers, we waited until the they were done to caulk the line where the tub meets the stone. That saved them a trip back. The ‘after’ picture above was taken before the final caulking. The homeowner was pleased with his ‘new’ regrouted slate shower!
If you’d like to see other examples of what regrouting slate, porcelain or marble tiles looks like, check out these other jobs we’ve done, like these projects, a full regrouting in Amesbury or the restoration of a Lexington shower.
If you have a stone or tile tub shower or stall shower that needs professional regrouting, feel free to call or text us at 617-221-4002or fill out the form below for a free estimate. We’d love to make it look like new for you!
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 https://cleanpolishmarblegraniteboston.com 617-221-4002Text or Call
Is Ugly Grout Ruining the Look of Your Tile? Grout repair to the Rescue!
Have you tried everything to clean it, but it still looks old and worn? Is it cracked, broken and missing in places? Are you thinking of tearing out the tile because it looks so bad? Is your shower missing grout or caulking?
Odds are, you don’t actually need new tile!! It’s usually only the grout that’s ugly and stained! All you need is grout repair and restoration to make it look perfect again!
We’d be happy to do whatever you need:
Grout repair
Deep cleaning for tile and grout lines
Recaulking edges and corners
Removing old, cracked dirty grout and regrouting with fresh new grout
You can even have us change the color of your grout if you don’t like it
We replace or repair broken or cracked tiles if needed
No slow jobs! In most cases grout repair only takes one day to go from drab to stunning
Save money – restoration costs only a fraction of a new installation. And you don’t have construction crews traipsing through your house for weeks at a time!
It doesn’t matter if it’s a wall or a floor, marble or ceramic, shower or dry area – we have the right procedure for each type of tile. And if you need tile repair also, that’s no problem – in fact, we can do both at the same time. We cover pretty much all of Eastern Massachusetts from Boston to Route 495.
So save your beautiful tile and get the look you want – all you do is call us at 617-221-4002 or just fill out the form below and we’ll get you an emailed quote right away so you can see all your options. We’re tile restoration fanatics and we won’t be satisfied until you are! You can see from the before and after photos on this page that it makes a dramatic difference (even if we are pretty bad with camera skills!)
Some recent job photos:
Tub shower Before RegroutingTub shower After RegroutingStall Shower Before Stall Shower After
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 617-221-4002 Text or Call
Recently we completed a challenging project color sealing and refinishing the stone floor of a large Boston hotel lobby at the Hampton Inn, which is part of the Hilton Hotelchain. It was a slate tile that was smooth on the surface, unlike some of the rough texture slate tiles.
The main problem was that the grout lines had not been installed correctly, so the grout color was inconsistent. In order to fix the situation, a previous contractor had done a colorsealing job on the grout lines, but it had not covered the grout uniformly. So the grout had a patchy, inconsistent look. NOT what you want in the main lobby of a hotel!
This is a close up of the grout they didn’t like:
Before Color Sealing Boston Hotel
The Challenges on This Job
If it were ceramic tile, it would have been easier. Recoloring grout lines with a tinted color sealer product (sometimes called grout staining or grout dyeing) is perfect for ceramic or porcelain floors with a glazed finish. The glaze on top of the tile prevents the liquid colorant from bonding to the tile, so it only bonds to the grout lines where it belongs. But with stone! Yikes, the stone is porous and absorbent, so the tinted sealer gets stuck on the top of the tile, not just the grout lines where you want it! Some stone tiles are so porous, they ‘drink in’ the stain and permanently change the color of the stone, so it looks like the color is ‘bleeding’ over the grout lines into the tile.
And if it were marble or granite tiles installed with a typical thin unsanded grout, it would also have been easier. That’s because we can regrout the traditional thin grout lines of polished marble floors. Unsanded grout is soft enough that we can do that manually.
But, no, this had to be wide grout lines with sanded grout, several thousand square feet. You can’t effectively grind out that much grout in a hotel lobby without making an enormous mess. So…what was the plan?
How We Beat the Challenges!
The only way to do this job was the following steps, in order:
1. Strip off as much as possible of the old wax finish (The stone actually needed a topical coating. The raw stone looks gray and washed out, but it’s a glorious lustrous black when finished with sealer) 2. Scrub grout lines by machine and by hand 3. Rinse the entire area 4. Painstakingly tape off each tile by hand so both sides of each grout line are protecting the tile but leaving the grout exposed – hands and knees time! 5. Manually color sealing over each grout line – More than half a mile of grout lines!…more hands and knees! 6. Remove the tape when dry 7. Apply 2 coats of stone-specific fast drying sealer 8. 4 coats of high gloss acrylic topcoat finish that turns the dull grayish stone to a brilliant deep black.
Only then is the floor is ready for high speed burnishing that brings out a depth of shine and melts the finish onto the stone for a long lasting durable surface.
If we could have done it all at once, it would save time and labor. But with color sealing on hands and knees in a busy downtown Boston hotel lobby, there’s no way to block off the entire floor – people need access to the front desk and exits at all times. So we discussed with the hotel engineer the idea of doing the work in the middle of the night, and going in sections blocked off, always leaving one exit open and one path to the front desk. Doing a long corridor ‘half and half’ this way almost doubles the labor time, but it’s the only way to do it in this setting without inconveniencing the hotel guests.
This is the floor partly done. Grout is recolored, but the finish is only partly applied. The dull gray is the unfinished and the black is the finished area.
Halfway Done
The hotel staff was extremely helpful and courteous and they were a pleasure to work with. From start to finish, the work took about 2 weeks and was done:
• As promised, with a clean, consistent light gray grout color throughout, • A rich glossy black finish on the slate and • Critically, the color sealing project was no trouble to hotel’s guests visiting Boston from around the world!
We worked an extra weekend night to get the job done in time for a last minute official inspection. We even threw in an extra coat of finish at no charge just to give it the final touch!
This is the finished product:
After Color Sealing Boston Hotel
If you want your floors to look ‘hotel lobby’ quality, feel free to give us a call or text at 617-221-4002 or fill out the form below and we will do our best to make your floors sparkle!
Our contact information:
Act One – Marble and Tile 15 Main Street # 138 Watertown MA 02472-4403 617-221-4002 Text or Call
