What you’ve described is definitely due to movement in your tile. Epoxy grout will not solve that problem. The deflection needs to be fixed and the tile needs full support without movement for the grout to last. Epoxy grout will be very solid along the plane of the tile floor (you wouldn’t be able to pull them apart) but you will still have only 3/8″ or so – however thick the tile is – worth of support and all of that would be along the edge of the tile. It would lend no support to the underside of the tile. Eventually the stress of the tile moving up and down will crack that grout away from the tile or worse, actually crack the tile.

It doesn’t really matter what the installer ‘wants’, if you paid for a correct tile installation you apparently have not yet received that. Tell him to fix it correctly or you will have someone else do it and send him the bill. Sorry but it’s contractors like that which give legitimate people who take care of their customers correctly a bad name. I have to first convince someone that I’m an honest contractor before I even start talking about tile – because of crap like this. *Sorry for the rant*

It needs to be done correctly. If he continues to put ‘band-aids’ on it he will need to continue that forever.

Wes

I am so glad you decided to have someone QUALIFIED take a look at it and fix it.

And as a bonus you have the quote of the week!

“Apparently any jackass can lay a floor, but only a tileman knows how to do a shower right.”

Absolutely correct! Glad to hear it worked out even if it was the hard way.

You can just scrape out a little and fill it back up if you’d like. It shouldn’t be a problem at all with a spot that small. I’m actually metric literate so you’re okay.

Oops, missed part of the question. You may as well get the grout off of the silicone before you seal it – it’s gonna crack off eventually anyway. You may as well have it look the way you want rather than like it cracked off, eh?

Thank you in advance for all your assistance.

Tami

I’ve thought about google adwords but the problem is I have absolutely no control over what products are advertised on my site. I don’t want ads for crap products and have people somehow think I’m endorsing them. And there are a lot of crap products out.
I am going to open up a little online store here when I get everything together. People will be able to order the stuff from me that I recommend here – you know, stuff like a rubbing stone. Seems that for some reason it is not as available as I thought – I may as well make it so.

The sealant made the grout darker when wet but it was the same colour when dry. No-one seemed to sell rubbing stones. I read someone on a forum say he now uses diamond sandpaper instead. I didn’t get any of that either though, instead I just used a grout rake to make a deep v shaped groove in the grout, then I’d angle it by resting on one edge to grind the grout off the other edge. The tiles ended up looking scratched, but when wiped with a damp cloth I could see that the grout had been sufficiently removed.

I did not reseal the scratched tiles yet, because I wanted the new grout to have every opportunity to stick in what little cracks the old grout was still hiding in along the edges. When regrouting, I tried to keep it as flush as possible with the tiles. They, when it was finished, I resealed and the scratches in the slate ‘disappeared’ once darkened the same colour as the rest of the slate. Not one piece of white showing, success! Thanks

P.s. why not put a little bar of google adverts at the top or bottom of your site? That should give you some extra revenue to help reward your efforts, without ruining the look of your wonderful site.

I apologize, I apparently am not making it very clear. The silicone in the corners IS NOT GOING TO STOP YOUR SHOWER FROM LEAKING. Your shower is leaking because the waterproofing membrane is compromised in some fashion. Grout should never be placed over silicone – it will not adhere and will crack and crumble to pieces. The black, tarp like paper to which you refer was (more than likely) used as a moisture barrier behind your backerboard. That is acceptable installation procedure for shower walls.

My concern here is that you have mentioned things such as ‘checking the plumbing and removing adjacent floor tiles’ ‘regrouting where needed’, ‘grout keeps cracking out’, ‘grout remains wet 2 days after shower’ and, of course, the biggest ‘water leaking into downstairs (from this shower)’. You have yet to acknowledge that the source of your leak is due to (short of a plumbing leak) a compromised liner. It sounds to me like you and your contractor seem to think that if he gets enough grout and silicone in all the right places that this will solve the problem. IT WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

The fact that your other shower doesn’t have silicone in the corners, just grout, and doesn’t leak has absolutely nothing to do with why it does not leak. It does not leak because it does not have a compromised liner in the base beneath the tile. When properly built you can take a shower in it without grout, silicone, caulk, anything, and it will be waterproof. I build showers with grout in the changes of plane – they do not leak. What substance is in the corners has nothing to do with how waterproof your shower is.

I’m not doing this to admonish your contractor, shit happens. It may not be his fault. I don’t know. I don’t care. The fact remains that, unless your plumbing has a leak, your shower is leaking because your waterproofing membrane in your shower floor is compromised. Everything you’ve described to me points right to it (cracking grout, wet grout, LEAK). Tearing out adjacent floor tiles, checking the plumbing, replacing grout at the plane changes with silicone, all these are fine. But short of the aforementioned plumbing leak, they do not change the fact, nor will they, that your shower floor is leaking.

I apologize for being an ass but there does not seem to be concern to an extent that warrants properly solving the problem. I’m saying there needs to be. If there is not this problem will compound into something much larger. The solutions that are being suggested are akin to cutting your arm off with a chainsaw and placing a band-aid over the wound. It’s not going to hold – knowwhatimean? The solutions being suggested are not going to solve the problem – period. You have water leaking downstairs, would you place a garden hose in your window and turn it on very low for 10 minutes twice a day?

I really don’t know how else I can say it. Your shower waterproofing membrane is somehow compromised – leaking. Short of diagnosing exactly how and fixing that problem everything you do is for naught. The rubber waterproofing membrane below your mud deck in your shower floor needs to be repaired or replaced. I don’t know how else I can explain that. Sorry if I sound like an ass. If it saves thousands of dollars worth of damage to your house – I’ll be an ass.