I am reading some great information in these forums, and learning quite a bit! Thanks for getting this information and experience out there. For those of us with minimal experience, this is a GREAT tool to have in our toolbox. So, on to the question... As soon as I have all the material on hand, I will be pulling all the tile from a shower enclosure, as well as pulling the tub. Everything is being stripped down to the studs. I already know some of the basics--how to put the tub in place, correct order for the vapor barrier, green board, concrete board, et. al. for the walls, and how to tile. Unfortunately, I cant seem to find a time frame for drying and setting! I know that the waterproofing agent that I am putting over the concrete board needs 24 hours. I know that the thinset that I will be putting over the mesh tape ALSO needs 24 hours. I am presuming that after I put up the tile I should wait ANOTHER 24 hours before I apply the grout, but I have seen a few sites that say it only needs to be up there a couple of hours before I add the grout. Additionally, there is another site that says TWO DAYS between tiling and grouting! And then there is the silicon in the expansion gap between the tob and the bottom row of tiles. Again, some sites says a day or two, another site (this one by a major supplier of the sealant) states that you have to wait TEN DAYS! And with all this taken into consideration, at what point should it be "safe" to put my grandkids in the tub? Thanks for everyone's help and input! Tim

Hi, first post here. So I bought a house where the master bath was remodeled. The shower is all tile, and there is a seat type of structure, so lots of areas where different planes meet. They used grout instead of caulk where those planes meet and the grout it cracked. There has gotten to be some mold behind there. I found this out because of this smell that would happen after a shower. It took so much trial and error to find out what was causing the smell. I have filled in the cracked grout with waterproof silicone caulk, and that is how I noticed the exact cause of the problem. After I ran water, there was no smell. So water would be getting into the cracks and then causing the smell. I don't know the science behind mold, so maybe the mold is dormant until the water hits it? Anyways the silicon didn't stick in all places because I could not completely dry out some spots of the cracked grout. Anyways, this was just temporary to find out the exact problem. I have now removed most of the grout. I'm now looking for suggestions on moving forward in the cheapest/easiest way possible. Questions: 1. Can I eliminate the mold without removing the tile? 2. If I seal it up so that it is waterproof and water is no longer seeping through these cracks, will I be safe from the mold? 3. What do you suggest the best way to remove the mold? 4. Any suggestions for best caulk for this scenario? TIA