Reply to Grout vs. silicone at change of planes

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are getting estimates to renovate our bathrooms, and every contractor we have spoken to (who all came highly recommended on Checkbook) has said that they use grout at changes of planes. This runs contrary to everything I have ever heard/read/experienced; my understanding is that because grout isn't flexible, it is bound to crack in this application. Am I going crazy? If just one contractor would say this I would assume that they are cheap/lazy but everyone I've talked to has said the same thing.[/quote]

So what I have learned is that silicon prevents the “dripping” of water down at the base of showers and bathtubs so that the hardy board in the back absorbs the water.

We have had a couple of our showers destroyed by this practice already. 
[/quote]

This is correct. Use grout it allows the water to go back into tub or shower base. [/quote]

This is so incorrect it's barely even wrong. Grout is cosmetic. The waterproofing has to be behind the tile. [/quote]

You can have water proofing behind, and still have grout, that diverts 99.9% of water toward a drain.  Redundancy works.  
Grout is not only cosmetic.  It can certainly provide a waterproof surface.

The issue is not always waterproofing, it is managing what happens to moisture after it migrates through/around a certain material or surface.[/quote]

Any design that relies on the waterproofness of grout is flawed.

For a proper job, after the waterproofing is installed you should be able to plug the drain, fill the shower with water up to the edge of the curb and leave it for 48 hours with no leakage. A shower sees thousands of gallons of water a month, a design that only stops 99.9% of the water is allowing gallons of water a month into the walls and floor.

As others have noted, contractors get shower waterproofing wrong all the time. [/quote]

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