Regrouting a Shower: When It Helps and When It Will Not

Stained, cracked or missing grout makes a shower look done for. Sometimes regrouting brings it back. Sometimes it hides a failed pan. How to tell.

Grout is the first thing to go in a shower. It stains from hard water and soap, it grows mildew in Florida humidity, and it cracks and falls out at the corners where the walls move. Regrouting is a real repair that can make a tired shower look nearly new for a fraction of a remodel. It is also, sometimes, a cosmetic fix over a problem that is going to cost far more if it is ignored. Here is how we tell the two apart.

What regrouting fixes

• Grout that is stained, discolored or permanently mildewed but still hard and intact.
• Grout that has cracked or crumbled in a few spots on the walls.
• Missing grout at the floor of the shower where it was worn away by cleaning.
• Old grout that was never sealed and now holds every bit of dirt.

In these cases, the old grout is ground out to at least half its depth, the joints are cleaned and vacuumed, new grout is packed in, and it is sealed after it cures. The tile itself is untouched. With a modern stain-resistant grout, the shower looks and cleans like new.

What regrouting does not fix

• Loose or hollow tile. Tap the tiles. A hollow sound means the tile has lost its bond to the wall, usually because water got behind it. New grout around a loose tile fails immediately.
• Cracked tile in a line. A crack running across several tiles means the substrate behind them has moved or is deteriorating.
• Soft walls. If the wall gives when pressed, the drywall or backer board behind the tile is wet. In many older Polk County homes the shower was tiled over ordinary drywall, and once it is wet it does not recover.
• A leaking pan. Water stains on the ceiling below, a musty smell, or a wet spot on the floor outside the shower point to the pan or the drain, not the grout. Our post on signs a bathroom needs waterproofing covers it.
• Grout in the corners and at the tub. Those joints are supposed to be caulk, not grout, because they move. Grout there will always crack. Our post on grout versus caulk explains where each belongs.

Sanded, unsanded and epoxy

Sanded grout is for joints wider than about an eighth of an inch and is what most floor and wall tile uses. Unsanded is for narrow joints and polished tile that sand would scratch. Epoxy grout is a different material: it is stain-proof, does not need sealing and does not support mildew, which makes it the best choice for a Florida shower, at a higher material cost and with a more demanding installation. For most regrouting jobs we recommend a high-performance cement grout with stain resistance built in, or epoxy where the homeowner wants to never think about it again.

The process

1. Remove the caulk at the corners, the tub or curb line and around fixtures.
2. Grind out the old grout with an oscillating tool or grout saw, carefully, without chipping tile edges.
3. Vacuum the joints and wipe the walls clean.
4. Pack in new grout, working it fully into the joints, and tool it to a consistent profile.
5. Clean the haze, let it cure, then seal if it is a cement grout.
6. Re-caulk the corners and the curb with a matching silicone.

A full shower regrout is typically a day plus cure time before use.

Keeping it looking new

A squeegee on the walls after each shower, a working exhaust fan, and a periodic reseal on cement grout make the difference between grout that lasts and grout that is stained in a year. Hard water is the enemy; see our post on hard water and fixtures for what it does and how to slow it down.

Cost in the Lakeland area

Regrouting a standard shower is a modest job, priced mainly by the tile area and whether epoxy is used. Replacing a few damaged tiles at the same time is a small add-on. If the inspection finds a failed pan or soft walls, that is a different job and we will tell you before starting, not after. A free estimate includes that inspection.

Inventive Home Improvement regrouts and repairs showers as part of our bathroom services and handyman repairs across Lakeland, Winter Haven, Mulberry and all of Polk County. Call (863) 633-5499.

Frequently asked questions

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