Re-grouting the Upstairs Bathroom

Renovating the upstairs bathroom was one of the first projects we did after moving into our house. Since them, one line of horizontal grout has cracked in the wall tile. 

This was the weekend to repair it. I used a dremel attachment to grind out the old grout where it was cracked. Where there is the band of accent tile, I roughed up all the grout lines with a hand grout removal tool. These areas have always been a little low on grout, so I decided to just put another layer over top. I know this is not strictly recommended, ‘experts’ always say you can’t just coat over grout, but I did 2 coats in a small area of tile in the powder room and it’s held up fine for 6 months now. 

After cleaning up a bit, I put in new grout, white to match the rest. The shower looks a lot better with the refreshed grout, we’ll see how it holds up.

While I was creating a mess in the room, I decided to address 3 things that have been bothering me. The first were the cracks in the walls in 2 areas. These got a couple of coats of mud, primed and painted.

The next was the window. When I tiled I wasn’t really sure how to address framing it out, so I butted the tile to it and caulked around. It’s always looked unfinished and a little sloppy.

This time I picked up some PVC trim and used construction adhesive to glue it in place. A little caulking around the inner and outer edges and the window looks much better.

The final item was the shelf in the shower where we keep our toiletries. As this was my first tiling job, I was unfamiliar with edging pieces and so used regular tiles around the perimeter. This meant that the built in spacers on the tiles were visible. It was okay looking just a little ‘homemade’.

I removed all the tile with a hammer and chisel, it came up easily in large pieces.

After evening out the surface a bit, I cut and installed new tile complete with proper edge pieces mitered in the corner.

The next day I grouted this area aswell and once it was dry, gave all the grout 2 coats of sealer. 

Although the updates are minor, the bathroom looks new again and much more polished. It’s really those small details that make a project look professional and not so DIY. 

And now we know: I don’t particularly enjoy re-doing stuff, but I’ve learnt so much in the past 4 years since I completed the bathroom, that it was worth re-doing a few things. Sometimes its the little things that don’t cost a lot that make the biggest impact. I already had the grout, so the extra edge tile and the window trim cost only about $25.