Tiling above bath / shower

[michgee]

Hi
My first ever DIY job & I decided that tiling was a good place to start....eeek
I've done most of the work before finding this site unfortunately, because there's a lot of good advice here!
There were tiles above the bath but not high enough for the shower's spray & so I've put up more tiles to reach higher up on the side. I've grouted & it all looks pretty. Now some posts mention sealing the grout & some don't. My grout bag doesn't mentioned sealant, does that mean that I don't need it, or would they not necessarily tell me?
Also, I had to get flexible grout which doesn't mention being anti-mould. So does this mean that it isn't protected or are they all anti mould these days? It's not a pre mix grout, the powder bag is called MAPEI.
Finally, I also had quite a big gap in the corner which I stuffed a lot of grout into (I now realise sealant may have been better instead, too late, although my grout does say that it's suitable for up to 6mm gaps) & am planning on putting sealant over it, running down the length of the corner. Should I give this more than 24 hours drying time, given that it's an extra deep area of grouting, as opposed to all the thin lines between all the tiles?
Actually one more, what is the difference between drying & curing?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[jctilingservices]

Hi
My first ever DIY job & I decided that tiling was a good place to start....eeek
I've done most of the work before finding this site unfortunately, because there's a lot of good advice here!
There were tiles above the bath but not high enough for the shower's spray & so I've put up more tiles to reach higher up on the side. I've grouted & it all looks pretty. Now some posts mention sealing the grout & some don't. My grout bag doesn't mentioned sealant, does that mean that I don't need it, or would they not necessarily tell me?
Also, I had to get flexible grout which doesn't mention being anti-mould. So does this mean that it isn't protected or are they all anti mould these days? It's not a pre mix grout, the powder bag is called MAPEI.
Finally, I also had quite a big gap in the corner which I stuffed a lot of grout into (I now realise sealant may have been better instead, too late, although my grout does say that it's suitable for up to 6mm gaps) & am planning on putting sealant over it, running down the length of the corner. Should I give this more than 24 hours drying time, given that it's an extra deep area of grouting, as opposed to all the thin lines between all the tiles?
Actually one more, what is the difference between drying & curing?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

You dont need to seal the grout
The mapie flexi grout you used will be fine
Scrape the grout out the corner and fill with a good quality silicon sealer.

the difference between drying and curing basically, silicon forms a skin which is touch dry in a short time, but is still wet underneath. Curing time is when the silicon has fully set.
Personally i would leave it 24 hrs if it is a wide gap, obviously the longer you leave it the better the end result will be. Hope this helps you

 

[michgee]

Thanks jc
All good except the part about scraping the grout out - it's rock hard, I dont have the tools or experience so am hoping that grouting with sealant over it will be enough of a water barrier.Otherwise I can see me chipping tiles & making holes in the plasterboard behind them!
All that was there before was sealant against one side of tiles, in the corner. I pulled the original corner sealant off so have basically replaced that with additional tiles, grouting & sealant, more than it had before.
I hope my explanation isn't confusing!

Thanks again!

 

[jctilingservices]

Thanks jc
All good except the part about scraping the grout out - it's rock hard, I dont have the tools or experience so am hoping that grouting with sealant over it will be enough of a water barrier.Otherwise I can see me chipping tiles & making holes in the plasterboard behind them!
All that was there before was sealant against one side of tiles, in the corner. I pulled the original corner sealant off so have basically replaced that with additional tiles, grouting & sealant, more than it had before.
I hope my explanation isn't confusing!

Thanks again!

purchase a grout rake, tile distributors, even b&q, they are about £4, and basically it acts like a rough file, just run it backwards and forwards over the grout, then fill the void with silicon, Basically if you grout into an internal corner (i am assuming it is not a solid wall ) as well as water ingress you will find that there is slight movement in the walls due to heat expansion, grout would eventually break away from the tiles, allowing water to penetrate, silicon would move with the walls, still retainig a watertight seal