silicone instead of grouting

Hi All,

I noticed one of my properties (which is in need of major repairs) the tiles in the shower/bath the grout has come out, i was wondering if instead of re grouting is it possible to just use clear silicone instead?

reason being as i would think it's much cheaper and once these tenants move out i'll be doing major repairs etc bathroom, kitcen.. anyways (tenants have been in there for 7+ years) they don't mind the condition the property is in but say they may be looking to move out in 6 months unsure if it will happen though.


thoughts?

 

Grouting a shower is easy, should take no more than 15 mins + prep and cleanup/tile wipedown

 

yea i agree, but how do you get the old grout out? etc i'd say half of the grout has fallen out. but theres still a lot of old grout on tiles. and the time it takes to get the old grout out is what i'm unsure about i don't wanna have a big job when i'm just gonna reno it in the near future.

 

Just pump a few tubes of this gear in and you will have no problem,but the surface has to clean and dry..
Ramset Australia

 

I agree with @DaveM. To apply grout you only require a squeegee and bucket of grout which are both cheap. You make a mess and clean up is easy.

If you use silicone it will be messy and require masking the joints. Clean upis more difficult.

 

Run a tilers small tool (tiny trowel) up the joints to remove the old grout.

 

You can/could buy little diamond crusted blades from the "major" hardware, you can effectively sand out the grout.

I have used liquid nails to put tiles back on the urinal wall and white silicone as grout in public toilet as short term fix, and it was still there years later, just filled the gaps and wiped over with a cloth soaked in turps (looked the part anyway).

 

I was just over in Adelaide helping my parents get ready to sell their house. There was some mould in a shower on both grout and white silicone. The mould cleaned off the grout easily but did not clean off the silicone.

The only way to remove mould from silicone is to remove the silicone. In my experience, grout is better.

 

Agree. Also, clear silicon will look terrible because it picks up the colour of the backing and looks dull and dirty. Save silicon/sikaflex for joints where walls abut walls, floors, benches etc. (you can get normally get coloured ones to match the grout colour)

 

I think silicon will look strange. Grout is a pita. I like grey grout for that reason

 

Silicone corners only...grout the rest

 

Silicone is $5 a tube.
Box of tile grout would be around the same.
Applying grout is not difficult, even if you don't get the job done perfect.
Silicone is prone to mound too, once it's in, even if you keep cutting it out and reapplying it won't fix the problem.
Existing grout is easy to remove too, you can even get the special tool if needed.
Around the shower base is a different story.

I say do the job properly and grout it.