Hi all,
We have a shower in the corner of the bathroom and have just tiled the 2 walls (one stud the other brick) it sits against. There seems to be conflicting advice as to whether the corner where the 2 walls meet should be grouted or not. Some say yes other say no because it will crack due to slight movement in the wall (I guess the stud wall relative to the brick wall) so we should mastic it instead.
Would appreciate your thoughts
Thanks
Lee.
Same configuration and I grouted. However 6 months down-line and there was a hairline crack so I used mastic over the top of the grout with no problems seen since
Silicone
Chris
I'd vote for mastic, simply because if its a wall between houses strange things happen in other peoples properties, including sledge hammers to walls that do move the other side quite a bit. Brian
+1
+1
You don't need heavy building work. In a shower you are more likely at some time put your hand/weight on the stud wall to steady yourself and cause a slight movement resulting in a crack in hard grout at the corner.
And again. You don't want water finding its way between two walls.
The plasterboard should be of the waterproof variety. Grout may well crack. Put a bead of silicon sealant down the joint.
if it's been there long enough that yo know it doesn't crack, grout will work. But if it does crack, grout won't. Silicone is therefore the safer bet if you don't know. OTOH silicone has limited life... so I'd grout if you do know it's 100% stable.
NT
I never grout, and always silicone vertical corners in these situations.
shouldn't be any movement
Silicone before tiling to seal, grout aftrerward for visual integrity
I always grout, but tend to silicone the corner before tiling. You may get a hairline crack, but it does no harm
I prefer to silicone because the way you tool that into shape is different from grout. I find the clean bevelled fillet of silicone looks nicer than a concave line of grout. The silicone is also better at hiding any irregularities in the tile edges and levels.
Thanks very much all for your help. Silicone it is :)
What do you mean by limited? It can get grubby, but still work. Grout also has a limited life. Most thing do.
Silicone sometimes comes away after years. Grout lasts decades.
NT
Not happened here. Did you make sure the tiles were clean before applying?
Grout - if there is any movement at all - will have a limited life.
new tiles. Had it happen a couple of times.
NT
New, but did you clean and degrease them with IPA or something? Also Mapei (for instance) make a magic stuff for helping it stick.
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