Cracking grout

[RrogerD]

Hi,

The grout around a couple of the tiles in my shower has started to crack. The one as in the photo, is particularly bad and I am concerned about water ingress damaging the ply behind and ending up forcing the tiles off completely. Yes, I know that the silicone along the bottom is rough and needs re-doing :-/

What is my solution please? Presumably, rake it out and re-grout?

How would I go about raking it out? It has been in-situ for about 10 years. Gouge it out with a knife and screwdriver? Or is that likely to crack the tile? Use a drill-bit and drag along the joint? What would be recommended?

The vertical joints up the corners, I assume I could just silicone over?

Thanks in advance.

 

[opps]

Corner joints could just be movement between the two walls. Often a bead of silicone will suffice. The other two images are more worrying. I would guess that those lower tiles are loose.

If you know someone with an oscillating saw, you can use a diamond grout remover attachment.

 

[RrogerD]

Corner joints could just be movement between the two walls. Often a bead of silicone will suffice. The other two images are more worrying. I would guess that those lower tiles are loose.

If you know someone with an oscillating saw, you can use a diamond grout remover attachment.

Blimey! Like butter.
Cheers.

 

[opps]

Blimey! Like butter.
Cheers.

In practice, it won't be that fast. You need to align the blade to the middle of the grout, because the blade has grit on the top and bottom as well, you risk going through any glazing on the edge of the tile. After removing the middle, I often use a sharp chisel to remove the bits touching the tile edge.

You can however purchase manual grout rakes.

Vitrex Heavy Duty Grout Rake | Wickes.co.uk

Vitrex Heavy Duty Grout Rake

www.wickes.co.uk

They are much slower though. Given that you only seem to need to deal with a couple of tiles, the hand rake will cost less than the diamond attachment.

 

[RrogerD]

In practice, it won't be that fast. You need to align the blade to the middle of the grout, because the blade has grit on the top and bottom as well, you risk going through any glazing on the edge of the tile. After removing the middle, I often use a sharp chisel to remove the bits touching the tile edge.

You can however purchase manual grout rakes.

Vitrex Heavy Duty Grout Rake | Wickes.co.uk

Vitrex Heavy Duty Grout Rake

www.wickes.co.uk

They are much slower though. Given that you only seem to need to deal with a couple of tiles, the hand rake will cost less than the diamond attachment.

I have and have used the manual rake. TBH, I didn't get on very well with it. I ended up instead, successfully routing the joints out with a small drill bit on a job a few years back.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Blimey! Like butter.
Cheers.

Why is cutting the tiles like butter a good thing? Dremel does a grout removal bit that is less risky. Nevertheless it can damage tiles if not careful.

 

[foxhole]

You grout is not waterproof so water may be getting thru anyway.