Blumengarten
Member
Hi All,
I just bought a house that was built in the 1950's. A friend who is an architect (and therefore thinks he knows everything) says I need to completely gut the bathroom. He said the tile in the bathroom was placed on drywall, not concrete backer board. He said there has been leakage from the grout in the bathtub, and he showed me in the bedroom behind the bathtub where there is a very small, grey stain on the oak floor (it extends zero to 1/2 inch beyond the quarter-round). I hadn't noticed that. He said it comes from water leaking through the grout. Two owners ago, the tile was painted, which he says was an attempt to seal the grout, but it's not working. Is there anything that can be done to seal the grout without gutting the bathroom? I love the porcelain tile. I told him I'd rather just take off the tile, put in backer board, and replace the tile (he wants me to take it all out and put in a shower, which I won't do, because families need showers, even if men do not). But if there is some way to seal it without completely removing all the tile, I'd like to know. Could you grind out the old grout and put in new?
Thanks,
Blumengarten
I just bought a house that was built in the 1950's. A friend who is an architect (and therefore thinks he knows everything) says I need to completely gut the bathroom. He said the tile in the bathroom was placed on drywall, not concrete backer board. He said there has been leakage from the grout in the bathtub, and he showed me in the bedroom behind the bathtub where there is a very small, grey stain on the oak floor (it extends zero to 1/2 inch beyond the quarter-round). I hadn't noticed that. He said it comes from water leaking through the grout. Two owners ago, the tile was painted, which he says was an attempt to seal the grout, but it's not working. Is there anything that can be done to seal the grout without gutting the bathroom? I love the porcelain tile. I told him I'd rather just take off the tile, put in backer board, and replace the tile (he wants me to take it all out and put in a shower, which I won't do, because families need showers, even if men do not). But if there is some way to seal it without completely removing all the tile, I'd like to know. Could you grind out the old grout and put in new?
Thanks,
Blumengarten