Marble tile in shower

Surface scratches


Can anyone tell me what kind of marble tile this is?

I noticed a couple of small surface scratches in the area under the shower valve, how would you deal with these?

Also, the horizontal seam under the valve has old grout (no caulk), which is cracking and disappearing, while the rest of the horizontal seam between the marble tiles, appears to have caulk on top of old grout. How would you deal with this?

FWIW, caulk appears to have been used on the vertical seams between the marble tiles as well as the horizontal seam between the marble tile and the vinyl shower pan.

 

Cant tell it it is real stone or cultured marble. 1/8" grout lines are not uncommon. I would say that any horizontal grout lines with caulking in them was a repair made sometime along the way. Perimeter caulking, corner caulking and at the pan are standard. Grout is usually between adjacent tiles in the field and on the same wall.

 

Just looks like failing grout to me.
Needs to all be removed and new grout installed.
Any place the tile changes direction of meets a different material needs color matched caulking.

 

Thanks!
Can anyone tell me what kind of marble tile this is?

 

Here's a pic of an area that has caulk over old grout. See how the caulk is on the marble face and out of the seam...How would you remove the caulk on these areas, without damaging the marble face?

 

Plastic scraper. They make caulk remover tools found in the paint section of the box stores. Key on this, especially with a soft stone like marble, is to not use anything that will scratch it such as metal scrapers. So find a good stiff plastic one.

 

Thanks!
I have to remove adhesive from the face of ceramic tile on a separate project, and I'm considering using a window scraper with single edge razor blade along with a heat gun. How about a window scraper for this marble project?

 

The window scraper is probably metal. I suspect that the ceramic tile is significantly harder than the marble and will therefore stand up to the metal scraper much better. I think you risk scratching the marble with a metal tool.

- Peter

 

You don't use sanded grout with marble because it will scratch, I think Pete's right about the metal scraper.

 

Thanks!
Makes sense as far as helping not to scratch the marble.

As far as the adhesive on the ceramic, some have recommended Zylene or paint thinner prior to scraping, while others have mentioned a heat gun...Thoughts?

 

How would you fix in these areas?

The shower corners appear to be caulked from top to bottom, where there's some minor mold.



The wall to base joints, however appear to have been grouted originally then caulked over. I removed the caulk and scored the grout lines.

 

As far as the shower wall to base joints, where I removed old caulk from old grout, then scored the grout lines with a grout saw; some say just caulk over grout, while others say applying caulk over a grouted wall to base joints is not a good plan. What would you do?

 

Tile to tile on a flat same wall use grout. If the two tiles are on different walls or turn a corner, use caulk. Where the tile meets the base, use caulk.

 

Use caulk on top of old grout?

What about this stuff?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awgapRjOShY

 

Yes, use the grout as kind of a backer rod to hold some of the dead space so you don't have to use a whole tube of caulking. The caulk comes color matched to the grout so it looks the same.