Using Epoxy Grout for Regrouting Shower Floors

We don’t normally regrout floors on showers,  since the type of grout used is much more tough and hard to remove than unsanded wall grout.

But there are times when it makes sense.  Sometimes the copper shower pan liner (the most common kind in the Boston and Eastern Massachusetts area) traps the moisture inside the cement under the floor and keeps oozing out either a moldy black stuff or a white deposit called efflorescence.  Now, it’s not fatal or not making the shower leak, but it’s ugly for sure.

For regrouting shower floors, we have to use power tools to cut the grout out and then we recommend epoxy grout to replace it. It’s best to keep to a similar color that was in the floor to start with (unless the terrible color choice is the whole reason for regrouting in the first place!)

The reason we prefer epoxy grout is that it’s much, much less porous than regular cement grout. It’s a tough material that makes the grout lines almost as waterproof as formica, since it’s chemically similar to plastic. It’s much stronger than cement grout. But mainly, it won’t allow as much or maybe even won’t allow any more water to go through the grout lines to saturate the deck mud cement below.

Plus, it’s much easier to clean. If you scrub it, it responds much better to the cleaning than cement grout.

More on what brands we’ve used and how we liked them later.

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