Caulking and groutin Las Vegas.

Grout repair in Las Vegas usually starts with a shower that looks tired: dark lines between tiles, crumbling corners, a caulk bead that has pulled away from the tub. Left alone, those gaps let water behind the tile, where it does real damage. Fresh grout and caulk stop that and make old tile look far newer.

Hard water is the local complication. Las Vegas water leaves white mineral scale on grout, glass and fixtures, and scrubbing it off with strong acid cleaners eats into the grout over time. Sealed grout absorbs less water and resists stains, which makes scale easier to wipe off, so sealing after a regrout is worth considering.

Recaulking is for the joints that move: where the tub meets the tile, inside shower corners, around the sink and along the base of a shower pan. Those joints should be caulk, not grout, because grout cracks when the joint flexes. The old caulk is cut and scraped out completely, the joint is cleaned and dried, and fresh mildew-resistant sealant goes in.

Regrouting is for grout that is cracked, missing, or stained past cleaning. The old grout is raked out to a solid depth, new grout is packed in and tooled, and the tile is cleaned. Where grout has failed over a large area, or tiles sound hollow when tapped, the problem may be behind the tile, and regrouting alone will not fix it.

Sealing is maintenance. Cement grout is porous, and a penetrating sealer applied after new grout has cured helps keep water, soap and scale from soaking in. Epoxy grout, sometimes used in showers, does not need sealing.

Caulk outside the house works harder than caulk inside. Around windows and doors set in stucco, summer sun above 110°F dries and cracks it, and the gaps let in dust and hot air, plus water when monsoon storms blow through. Replacing failed exterior caulk before monsoon season keeps that out.

The price depends mostly on the amount of grout or caulk involved. A single tub surround is a small job. A large shower with small tiles has far more grout lines than one with big tiles, and old silicone or heavily scaled grout takes longer to remove. Exterior caulk on a two-story house means ladder work.

Photos of the shower or tub from a few feet back, plus a close-up of the worst spot, are usually enough for a written flat quote. After a recaulk, the shower needs to stay dry while the sealant cures, often about a day, depending on the product.