Grout cracks, fix, fill, or re-grout?

Question

Hello all, I'm in the process of trying to fix up my house to get it ready to rent. I'm looking at my kitchen/entryway flooring and and would appreciate some opinions/suggestions on how to approach fixing up my grout in the kitchen/entryway. Google's a fantastic resource, but (in my experience) grout is a major pain and I'd appreciate any guidance before I go down a bad path.

Anyway, I'd say there are 4 different types of problems I'm looking at:

1. general discoloration. It's not bad, I'd even just leave it like it is, but if there's a suggested product I'd give it a try.

2. Cracks in "hard grout" where the wall meets the grout. It might not be appropriate to describe it as a crack, more like just a separation of the wall from the group. The separation is not large, maybe just a millimeter in width, but can be several inches to even a foot or longer in length. Can I use a painters caulking or some other type of caulking to fill these edges? Or try to fill it with some actual grout? Or scrape these sections out and re-grout entirely?

3. Deteriorating "soft grout" where the wall meets the grout. Most of the grout against the wall appears to be "hard grout", but there's some areas where I assume some sort of caulking is used instead, where I can feel the texture of it is softer. These areas have generally deteriorated faster. I assume I can just scrape out the caulking and apply a new caulking of similar tone.

4. Cracks in the "hard grout" in the middle of the flooring (not against the wall). Not many of them, and they don't look deep, very hairline. I only saw a couple, generally where the grout meets the tile.

Thanks again for any suggestions. Doesn't need to look perfect, just presentable, and hopefully not with a "fix" that will fall apart in 2 months :-)

Account Closed · Answer

Hey @Jeff Workman, all good advice here. I would not put caulking on the mid-floor grout. Just ignore it. To really fix it, you'd probably have to add/replace a decoupling membrane under the floor tile, or fix a weak subfloor. Those are the 2 main causes of cracks in floor tiles/grout lines. It's just not worth it for a minor thing.

If it's bad, you CAN replace floor grout w/ the sanded silicone too, but again, if it's bad you probably need to do some rethinking underneath the tile. Make sure before you pipe in silicone, you wipe off all dirt & dust w/ a damp sponge and let it dry, or your bead won't bond to the tile and you'll still have cracks.

Account Closed · Answer

@Jeff Workman What you've got is sheet vinyl. Quarter round (also called shoe) along the trim at the edges of sheet vinyl flooring is a typical detail. It's best to put silicone bead at the floor/wall joint before you apply the shoe or instead of the shoe, though. I probably wouldn't put it along the face of a tub and just go w/ the silicone bead. You'll probably have to reseal it every few years - but it takes less than 10 minutes to do that and costs maybe $5. Worth the effort.Vinyl flooring is bound to bubble/peel eventually... it's just not the best finish in a bathroom, but it's inexpensive so it is what it is. The sales and support team at a place like Shaw Flooring - who do everything from carpet tile to vinyl - can help provide more details probably. Give them a call if you want to double-check your contractor. The people who make the products tend to have the answers.@Jim Adrian 's suggestion of shoe to cover the gap between the baseboard and tile is 100% correct. You can buy it pre-painted at Home Depot and tack it on with a brad gun in a few minutes. It's a very, very easy finishing detail.

Jim Adrian · Answer

At the tub you want a sealant joint.  If you want a clean joint, put painters tape down on the floor and the tub about 1/4" (or more) from the corner each direction.  Apply sealant,  use finger or tool to smooth out sealant for uniform fill and look.  The remove tape. I would probably pass on putting the plastic quarter round here. I want to see the condition (shrinkage cracks) of my joints at the tub so I can fix them as needed.  You can use acrylic, polyurethane, silicone sealants or hybirds.  A 100% silicone is not paintable and no other sealant will stick to it other than silicone.

Jim Adrian · Answer

@Jeff Workman

Sometimes baseboard has 2 pieces of wood.  A 1/2" x 1/2" Quarter Round and then a 1/2"x4" baseboard, height can vary.   Baseboard / trim people refer to it being the same thing.

In your case with the baseboard sitting on the subfloor, you have 2 options.  Add the quarter round to lap the tile gap ( $$$ and work).  Or you try the sealant with sand / grout to match the grout.  This gap should be flexible to allow for any movement.   You could also do a typical colored sealant.  You should probably should of had quarter round installed previously. Quarter round is used for covering the gaps.  Sounds like you are on the right track.

Images of baseboard with quart round if you are not familiar with it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=quarter+round+and+baseboard&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr1IGLg9PYAhVSVWMKHZTTD6AQ_AUICigB&biw=1262&bih=707

Sealant Grout example product.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-Polyblend-386-Oyster-Gray-10-5-oz-Sanded-Ceramic-Tile-Caulk-PC38610S/204984830

Jim Adrian · Answer

@Jeff Workman

1.  Discolorations is probably dirty / stained grout.

2.  At the walls you should have a 1/4-round trim to cover the gaps.

3.  Soft grout needs to be removed and regrouted.

4. These cracks are typically from movement of the subfloor.  I would be there is not a crack isolation membrane below the tile.  Often skipped or missed by dyi'rs.

I would consider grinding down all the grout and re-grouting the entire area.  This will give a new uniform look.  Cracks need to be sealed up otherwise water will get into the cracks and subfloor and rot the flooring and pop up tiles.  I just lost a shower/tub tiling due to cracks and moisture. ugh!   Its money well spent on and will save you headaches later.

Jill F. · Answer

I think I would remove the soft and hard "grout?caulk" where the wall meets the countertop and apply a new bead of "sanded caulk"; it is silicone that looks more like grout.

For the discoloration in the floor tile grout is it sanded or non-sanded? (If the floor tile is travertine or marble, or any natural stone,  the tiles are not beveled and the grout lines are very thin (1/16-1/8") it is probably non-sanded grout. For non-sanded grout, a magic eraser works great!

For sanded grout, I had some VERY discolored light grey grout in a bathroom and the only thing that worked was phosphoric acid (a long time ago it was in tilex and the works) but now I think you have to order Lime-B-Gone from a restaurant supply (or amazon).

I would ignore very small hairline cracks.

Alan Pederson · Answer

2 & 3 you have 2 choices. Either use a putty knife and utility knife and remove the old grout and put in silicone caulk. Silicone will not crack like grout does. You can even get colored caulk if you need that. Or, just caulk over what's there to try and make it look as good as possible.

4 I would get a grout removal tool and remove the cracked grout and replace with new grout. The hard part would be trying to match the grout color.

Account Closed · Answer

Jeff,

All the recommendations above are great. I would be careful about putting whipped cream on dog sh&t. Grouts have come a long way, they are making grouts that do not require any sealer.

You can use a multitool to remove the grout, a little tedious but worth the effort. I have a Fine, it is the best tool I have ever put in my bag.

Jeff Workman · Answer

Hmm, well I guess this gets us to a new problem. I removed the old silicone from where the tub meets the sheet vinyl, and there is a very slight amount of peeling starting got happen  in one corner of the vinyl  there is also a gap, maybe a few millimeters between the vinyl and the tub. A decent, slightly oversized bead of silicone caulk barely covers the gap, and I could see that the new caulk was already being pulled apart from the vinyl a bit as the vinyl below it curled a little.

Might need to consider some other options in other words. Maybe some floor adhesive will hold it down enough so it won't pull on the caulking (for a while anyway). Or I need something bigger or heavier than a line of caulking (like the quarter round). Or new flooring again.

Jeff Workman · Answer

@jim adrian

alright I'll take a look at the quarter round. the dude the just helped me install the sheet laminate in the bathroom recommended plastic quarter round against the bathtub to prevent the floor from lifting, so guess that stuff is useful for all sorts of things.  It seemed questionable to me though, like you're covering up an edge that water could be getting through, so you can't see what's going on behind/under it, unless you can be sure it's completely sealed behind it. (I have a tenancy to overthink things)

Grout cracks, fix, fill, or re-grout?

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