Porcelain Can you Silicone on top of grout?

[Sefirah]

please help I'm having a new bathroom installed and the tiler has finished his part and grouted everything.
The fitter said he will grout over the silicone.
Just wanted to check this is ok?

I have a shower tray and a bath.
The bath panel is tiled, and where the bath panel reaches the lip of the bath is grouted and he said that doesn't need silicone- it's a 5mm gap.
Though I've heard that due to movement it will crack so should be siliconed. But if so can I ask him to silicone over the grout?

And around the shower tray - inside and out, this is all grouted and he's going to silicone on top of it. Is that ok?
Thank you and confused...

 

[Qwerty]

No it's not ok. The main purpose of the silicone is to allow for movement and to perform this task properly the silicone needs to fill the gap sufficiently so as to not peel off. Your tiler needs to rake out the grout and then silicone

 

[One Day]

... Your tiler needs to rake out the grout and then silicone

I'll add: WITHOUT scratching everything!

 

[Sefirah]

Oh no I feared as much.
It's so difficult as how am I going to tell him I know better than him when he says it is fine to silicone over the grout?
He's not going to be happy .. and I'm not convinced he would not scratch anything either, as he already has :-(

 

[Sefirah]

Is there a maximum gap you can silicone?
I'm just wondering if the reason the tiler grouted everything is he left too large a gap?
Otherwise why would he have grouted everything? He rest of his work was excellent...

 

[Bond]

The wider the silicone the more visually obtrusive it becomes, 5 or 6mm is about right.

 

[Sefirah]

I know it's 5mm under the bath rim but I don't know about around the shower.
So I have to ask him to remove all the grout from around inside and outside the shower tray?
Can he partially remove it or does it have to be completely empty?

 

[Bond]

Aye, gap should be depth of tile, remove from the junction between tray and wall, also internal corners of shower area.
(Change of wall direction)

 

[Sefirah]

I'm sorry I'm totally new to this and don't understand the jargon you've used, please spell it out for me!

Am I going to need to ask him to remove all the grout entirely everywhere or just in some places?

So for example, under the rim of the bath, can he take a bit of grout away and silicone then?

What about the outside of the shower tray where it meets the tile floor?


I have to understand it exactly so I can tell him what to do as he's so different to what he wants to do.

I just can't see how he can remove all the grout without scratching anything!

 

[Qwerty]

Do you have any photos?

 

[Sefirah]

Thank you - I can pop to the the house and get them later !

 

[Rookery]

The junctions between different surfaces are called movement joints. EG between the shower tray and the wall, at the vertical corners in the shower, where the bath butts up to the wall tiling, where floor tiling meets wall tiling etc etc.. These should not be grouted but left OPEN and siliconed over, preferably with sanitary silicone such as DOW785. This allows for movement at different rates. It is quite common for some traders to grout the area then silicone over but by doing this, they are creating a 'rigid' movement joint, which is wrong.

 

[Sefirah]

I see thank you.
Well all of that has been grouted, so that must be the way they do it like he said, grout it and silicone over it.

To resolve this what should I tell home to do?
Surely it's going to be too much work and risk damage by asking him to take grout of in all those areas?

Is there certain areas I should definitely insist on him removing grout prior to siliconing?

 

[Sefirah]

Iva attached photos showing grout all around the shower tray, bath, and where tiles meet tiles in the corner of two walls.
Am I going to have to ask him to remove all of this grout? And is it actually possible without him damaging anything?

 

[Sefirah]

Where bath too meets wall tile

 

[Sefirah]

Showing different thicknesses of grout around the shower tray:

 

[Sefirah]

Showing different thicknesses of grout around the shower tray:

 

[Old Mod]

I know this is not exactly the answer you were looking for, but you might consider getting a professional mastic man in to complete the task. Get your guy to remove all the grout from the transitions explained above, then get someone in that only does silicone work for a living.
They are clean, fast, and above all very very neat. It will also lift the finish of your project.
Silicone work can make or break a job, it'll either look excellent, or very very bad.
It's something I always push for with my clients, because they always so much better than me.
And it's worth every penny, in my opinion anyway.

 

[Sefirah]

Thank you, I didn't know they existed!
And if trust them more to know what needs to be siliconed.
Would they take out grout if not all had been removed do you know?

 

[Old Mod]

Thank you, I didn't know they existed!
And if trust them more to know what needs to be siliconed.
Would they take out grout if not all had been removed do you know?

It wouldn't be something they do as a rule, reason being, to keep costs to clients down they're in and out in a very short time. They have to lump jobs together in a day, to make it worth their while visiting. So there would be at least an extra cost. If you're happy with that, then they may.
But don't hold your breath.

 

[Blunt Tool]

I know this is not exactly the answer you were looking for, but you might consider getting a professional mastic man in to complete the task. Get your guy to remove all the grout from the transitions explained above, then get someone in that only does silicone work for a living.
They are clean, fast, and above all very very neat. It will also lift the finish of your project.
Silicone work can make or break a job, it'll either look excellent, or very very bad.
It's something I always push for with my clients, because they always so much better than me.
And it's worth every penny, in my opinion anyway.

They must wear their underpants on top of their trousers!

 

[Old Mod]

They must wear their underpants on top of their trousers!

The one I use does Ian, saves my life all the time.

 

[Rookery]

At the end of the day it's up to you and you can leave it as it is and hope for the best. If the shower tray is grouted in, which it is, sooner or later stepping on and off it will crack the grout and eventually water will penetrate the background behind the tiles and ruin it. I bet he didn't tank it either?

 

[PaulSmith]

Quality of tiling has to be questioned also...

 

[The Brown bomber]

Silicone the corners over the grout. There will be no problems. Previous poster making a mountain out of a molehill. If the grout cracks the silicone won't.