Has anyone re-grouted a leaking shower? I have been quoted $460 by a business to re-seal the joins (it is not ordinary grout but some longer lasting stuff) and it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to do. I think that is excessive. Do you think a handyman could do the job and if so would they use ordinary grout and how much do you think is reasonable for a single sized shower? Thanks in advance.
Re-Grouting a Leaking Shower
Lspring89 on 07/07/2016 - 18:35
Comments
re-grouting is not the same as stopping leaks. See kywst comment below. Depends on how the link is occurring if I would do it.
Grout isn't a sealant as it is porous. Silicone between the shower base and edge of the tiles to prevent water ingress as this is where a majority of shower leaks occur. The board the tiles are affixed to should be coated in a waterproof membrane (Mapei for example). There are also products available that will seal grout. This can be a bad idea though as any moisture that does get behind your tiles will not be able to escape. You should only need to re-grout your tiles if it becomes drummy, cracked or is missing. $460 is a highball figure … perhaps they don't really want the job.
edit : This is something you could do yourself if you want to. YouTube and a few hours over the weekend should be enough but I still recommend starting with silicone (< $10 + Caulking gun) and seeing if that solves your problem.
That is a reasonable price. How far up the wall are they going to reseal? If you have the tools then sure you could do this yourself, but removing existing grout without it is a pain. You also run the risk of damaging tiles. I paid $550 last year to get a shower done and have taken comfort in knowing it was done by a pro.
Thanks everyone. I would prefer not to do myself in case I make a mess. Ryanek I believe the sealant would go to the top of the shower but only in the joins. How long did yours take to get done? I was thinking of paying a handyman to do the work as I would then only pay for labour and materials as opposed to a fee and that surely must be below $460.
I high pressure blaster 2500psi or more will blast the old grout right off.
It will make a huge mess though.
It was 3 hours work. Here is the info from the quote:
Epoxy Seal
The steps taken are removing grout from walls / floor, removing silicone from the shower screen, replacing the grout using anti-mould grout and replacing the silicone. Taps will be sealed behind and the floor/wall junction sealed using the 2 part epoxy product.
I used a company called Megasealed, who claimed they would remove grout, refix lifted tiles, dry out the shower with powerful blow dryer, and reseal with their super strong waterproof sealant, 15 year money back guarantee.
Well, the repairer (who I found out later was not a tiler and just some random guy off the street) turned on the dryer for all of 10 minutes (useless), refused to check under lifted tiles nor refix, sealed it up and didn't clean up properly. A month later, the super sealant started to crack, mould started to appear again. A few months later, Megasealed came back and redid the whole job (different repairer), then again the shower started leaking again (through the floor, under the house).
After 18 months, Megasealed management came out a third time, they finally lifted some tiles, then the shower floor fell in, completely rotten. They refused to give me my money back, despite their guarantee. Companies like this are only interested in patching over a problem and not finding the source of it. As for our builder who built the bathroom, he did not put any waterproofing in the shower, and it was passed by a building inspector. Eventually got a carpenter to come in and rebuild the shower and floor and waterproof it properly underneath the tiles.
I paid someone around $600 to fix my shower. He was there for half a day. Basically he removed all the old grout from the floor and the walls and fixed it using some super epoxy stuff. I am more than happy with the job he did. Downside was that I had to wait 2-3 days to use the shower once he was finished. It was still leaking so the guy came back to check. Turned out It was leaking through the shower screen join - not the floor. http://www.tilerescue.com.au
When you need to call trade men.Go into youtube first. Save you $.
Just do it yourself— youtube has a bunch of video how-to's…
:)