What kind of caulk should be used around a bathtub?

A 100% silicone sealant made for kitchens and bathrooms, with a mould inhibitor, in a colour that matches the grout. Acrylic and siliconized acrylic caulks are easier to tool and can be painted, but they soften and discolour in a shower that runs every day. On the outside of a tub or along a painted baseboard, where water only splashes now and then, acrylic is fine.

Can you just clean black mould off silicone caulk?

Surface staining sometimes lifts with a bathroom mould cleaner. If the spots come back within a week or two, the mould is growing inside the silicone or behind it, and no cleaner will reach it. At that point the bead has to be cut out, the joint cleaned and dried, and new silicone applied. Better ventilation afterwards keeps it from coming back as fast.

How often should bathroom caulking be replaced?

There is no fixed schedule. Replace it when it is peeling, cracked, pulling away from the tub or tile, or stained black in a way that will not clean off. A well-prepped bead in a bathroom with a working fan often lasts many years. A quick look at every joint each fall is a good habit, before Metro Vancouver's wet season keeps the windows shut.

Do you re-caulk bathrooms in occupied strata suites and rentals?

Yes. Most of our strata and rental caulking work happens with people living in the suite. We plan the visit so the silicone cures overnight or while a second bathroom is free, book elevators and parking with the building where needed, and send a certificate of liability insurance to the strata manager on request. Visits are scheduled by appointment.

Bathroom Caulking and Grout Repair in Vancouver: Where Leaks Start

Vancouver bathroom caulking repair: why silicone and grout fail, where leaks start and when to re-seal. Insured, owner-led team. Send a photo for a free estimate.

Bathroom caulking repair is the job Vancouver homeowners put off longest, because a grey line of silicone around the tub never looks urgent. Then October arrives. Windows stay shut, the fan does all the drying, and a bead that was already peeling at one corner starts letting water into the wall every morning. By January the paint in the hallway is bubbling, or a condo owner in Burnaby finds a brown ring on the ceiling of the suite below.

The repair at that point is bigger. The cause was usually a few metres of silicone.

Silicone gone black or peeling at the corners? Send a photo or call (604) 996-0969.

Why does bathroom caulking fail after a year or two?

Usually because of how it went on, not the product. Silicone laid over old caulk residue, soap film or a damp joint never bonds properly. A tub that was caulked empty stretches the bead the first time someone fills it and steps in. Painter’s acrylic used in a shower breaks down fast. And in a bathroom with weak ventilation, mould grows into the silicone itself, which no cleaner fixes.

The empty-tub problem catches a lot of careful DIYers. Acrylic and steel tubs flex a few millimetres under the weight of water and a person. Caulk run on an empty tub cures at its narrowest, so every bath pulls it apart a little more. We fill the tub before we caulk and leave the water in while the bead sets.

Two years is not a rule, though. A well-prepped joint in a bathroom with a working fan lasts a lot longer.

Where do bathroom leaks usually start?

At the joints, not the tile. The most common spots are the long seam where the tub meets the wall tile, the inside corners of a shower, the gaps around the spout and valve trim, and the ends of the shower door track. Outside the tub, splash water gets into the joint between the tub and the floor, and into the backsplash seam behind the vanity.

A closer look at the ones we see most in Metro Vancouver bathrooms:

The tub-to-tile seam under the showerhead. It takes the most water every day and usually fails first, often at the two back corners.
Shower corners, where two walls meet. More on those below.
The spout and the valve trim plate. An open gap there sends spray straight into the wall cavity.
Shower door tracks. On most sliding doors the bottom track is sealed on the outside edge only, so water can drain back into the tub. We often find the inside caulked shut too.
Windows inside the shower, common in older East Van houses. The sill takes direct spray and rarely has enough slope.

Should shower corners be grouted or caulked?

Caulked. Anywhere two surfaces meet at an angle, such as wall-to-wall corners, wall-to-tub and wall-to-floor, the joint moves a little with temperature, water weight and the house settling. Grout is rigid and cracks along that line. Tile industry guidance calls for a flexible sealant at every change of plane, and a colour-matched silicone looks almost identical to the grout beside it.

A lot of the cracked grout we get called about is not a grout failure at all. It is a corner that was grouted when it should have been sealed, and it cracked on schedule.

Grout still matters on the flat. Cement grout is porous, so a busy family shower needs it sealed and re-sealed every year or two. Grout that keeps cracking along the same line on a flat wall is different. That points to movement or water behind the tile, covered in our piece on bathroom tile and vanity repair.

Can you put new caulk over old caulk?

No, and it is the most common DIY repair we end up redoing. Fresh silicone does not bond well to old silicone, so the new bead sits on top like a rubber band and peels within months. Worse, it seals moisture and mould under it. The old caulk has to come out completely, the residue cleaned off with a solvent, and the joint left to dry before anything new goes on.

Other things we fix after a weekend attempt:

A thick bead smeared flat with a finger, leaving thin edges that lift first.
Acrylic or “paintable” caulk in a tub or shower, where it softens and yellows.
Caulk run over a joint still wet from the morning shower.
Grout sealer brushed over dirty grout, which locks the stains in.

Caulking looks easy and mostly is. Right up until the prep. The prep is the job.

How do you know if water is already behind the tile?

Tap the tiles near the tub and in the shower with a knuckle or the handle of a screwdriver. A hollow sound, tiles that move, grout that crumbles, or drywall that feels soft next to the tub all mean water has been getting in for a while. Outside the bathroom, look for bubbling paint on the other side of the wall and stains on the ceiling below.

If any of that shows up, re-caulking alone would only hide the leak for a season. The wet tile and board come out, the wall dries, then it gets rebuilt and sealed. Our guide to drywall and water damage repair walks through that sequence, and it always starts with finding where the water comes from.

Sometimes the source is not the caulk at all. A dripping valve inside the wall or a leaking drain under the tub looks the same from the hallway. That part goes to a licensed plumber, and we handle the tile, drywall and sealing around their work.

How long does re-caulking a tub or shower take?

The work itself usually takes a few hours for one tub or shower: cutting out the old bead, removing residue and mould staining, drying the joint and running new silicone. The shower then stays out of use for about a day while the silicone cures. Re-grouting a shower wall or floor takes longer, often most of a day, and the grout sealer goes on after the grout has cured.

Drying is where the wet months slow things down. A joint in a Surrey basement bathroom in November can hold moisture for hours after the last shower, so we ask households to skip that morning’s shower. In a one-bathroom condo, we plan the visit so the cure runs overnight.

Ventilation decides how long the new bead stays clean. Run the fan during the shower and for a good while after. If the fan is dead, a licensed electrician handles the wiring for a new one.

What should strata owners and landlords know about bathroom leaks?

In a strata building, a failed tub joint rarely stays in one suite. The water shows up in the ceiling of the unit below, and depending on the bylaws and the strata’s insurance deductible, the owner whose bathroom it came from can end up paying for the repair downstairs. For landlords, a fresh caulk line at every tenant change is a small job compared with a wall rebuilt mid-tenancy.

Condo work in Richmond, Coquitlam or downtown Vancouver usually means an elevator booking and a certificate of insurance. We carry liability insurance and send the certificate to the strata manager on request.

For a strata council, a building-wide round of tub and shower checks before the rain is an easy item to schedule. One crew, many bathrooms, a short note per unit.

Landlords can fold it into the turnover list. Our rental turnover repairs checklist puts re-caulking the tub on every changeover for a reason: it protects the walls behind and the ceiling below.

How we re-caulk and re-grout a bathroom

We start with photos or a short visit. Close-ups of the corners, the spout and the door track tell us most of what we need. Send them through the booking page.

On site, the order does not change:

Cut out all the old silicone and scrape off the residue.
Clean the mould staining and let the joint dry properly.
Rake out cracked grout and regrout. The sealer goes on once it has cured.
Fill the tub, run a 100% silicone bead in a colour that matches the grout, and tool it once.
Keep the shower off until the silicone has cured.

What moves the estimate is scope: how many bathrooms and joints, whether the grout needs raking out or only sealing, whether the mould staining comes out, and whether anything behind the tile is soft. Tile, drywall and the rest of our bathroom repair work can go on the same visit if the inspection turns something up.

Book a free on-site or photo estimate at 604hm.com/booking, or call (604) 996-0969. We handle bathroom caulking and grout repair in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster and across Metro Vancouver.