Groaulking the Shower

Grout + caulk = groaulk, which is what I've just finished working with in the master bathroom. The old caulking was separating from the tub and had started to get a bit moldy. We'd also been talking about replacing the shower doors with a curtain to add some color and open it up a bit. Taking the door frame off would have required some recaulking anyway, so the two projects went together well.

The first step was removing the doors from the frame, which was easy enough. Then I used a putty knife and razor blade to pry up the caulking between the door frame and the wall tile and pried the frame off in pieces. I was able to get most of the caulk off the tile, but we'll probably have to go back and really scrub it to remove all the residue. While removing the base of the frame I could see that it hadn't been sealed very well and was an obvious source of our recurring mildew.

With the frame removed I proceeded to rip out the tub caulking, which was much easier since it was latex or acrylic rather than silicone. I prepared the surface for recaulking using denatured alcohol and surface cleaner based on tips from The Natural Handyman. I got a bit overexcited around the base of the tub and ended up pulling out some of the grout that filled the gap between the tub and the surrounding tiles. I hadn't planned on this being a grouting job so I tried to see if there was anything else I could stuff in the gap as a good base for the caulk. In the end I decided to bit the bullet and made another trip to Home Depot to pick up the grouting supplies.

Regrouting the space around the tub took about an hour, and we let the grout dry and cure for two days (all the while using the standing shower in the second bathroom). With everything clean and dry I spent another hour caulking the joints between the tub, tiles, and grout. After some cleanup and another two days of curing the messy job was finished. I put the old doors and frame in storage in case we ever need them, put up the new rod and curtain liner, and installed a new double towel rack to make up for the lost hanging space on the door handle.

In the end the groaulking went pretty well and the result looks great! Hopefully it holds up!