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My shower/tub area was completely tiled, including a bench area in the back. The house-flipper did not seal the grout in any way. I’ve heard you typically caulk where the tub and tile grout meet, but what about this bench area

Should I seal with 511 the entire bench and then caulk at the seam? What about the vertical portion?

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  • Do you know how or whether they used a wet membrane? If they used kerdi correctly, for example, no caulking is necessary. If they didn't use a membrane then no caulking might ever suffice.
    – Matthew
    May 10, 2022 at 22:14
  • Matthew D, if you do decide to caulk, use a tiny bead. Trim the end of the tube minimally and at an angle to create a natural tool. Press firmly.
    – isherwood
    May 11, 2022 at 20:06

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I caulk all corners in the tile. This is a place where grout often cracks and caulking has some elasticity so it helps alleviate that.

So yes- vertical, horizontal, bench, tile to tub or shower pan, basically every corner. I have not used silicone for years for this. Silicone looks good for awhile but then seems to get mold or mildew forming under it and usually looks pretty bad in a few years. I use the caulking sold by the grout manufacturer that matches the grout color in either sanded or un-sanded depending on which grout was used.

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  • I'd agree on the "caulk the corners" part, but not so much on the product recommendation. When I redid my tub surround 25+ years ago, I used whatever was the cheapest caulk (I was cheap back then). I don't remember if it was an acrylic, latex, silicone, "tub & tile" or what, but I didn't have any more or less issue with mold/mildew on the caulking than anywhere else in the bathroom. And whatever it was that I used lasted just fine until last summer when I pulled it for a refresh. Of course, a color-matched caulk would probably look better...
    – FreeMan
    May 11, 2022 at 12:10
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    Silicon | Silicone
    – isherwood
    May 11, 2022 at 20:04
  • haha- thanks- right you are ! gotta laugh at myself sometimes...
    – Kyle
    May 12, 2022 at 4:09

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