We just moved into our newly constructed home on Aug 15, 2008. The tile shower in our master bathroom has become an eye-sore since the first time we showered. The threshold between the shower and the bathroom floor has grout cracking, crumbling and washing away. It always appears to be wet and discolored.

Our builder has not been as proactive as I would like. We've had the tile subcontractor visit several times and he claims it is a grout adhesive problem. The tile manufacturer has sent grout samples to the grout manufacturer to see if it is truly the problem.

We've asked our builder to remove the tile so we can get a good look at the damage underneathe. He refuses saying that faulty grout doesn't mean we just remove and trash the tile.

In the meantime the mess gets bigger and bigger and my bathroom floor is always wet. The wetness has moved into the master closet and soaked the carpet. I am concerned that it is leaking through to the subfloor and under the house.

Our builder is really not helpful so I am asking the home inspector to return to take a look.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

If the grout is failing you don't need to pull up good tile, your will break every one of them. The tile sub needs to stop screwing around with the manufacturer and get all grout removed and replaced with a good stain proof epoxy grout. There is absolutely no reason to not do this tomorrow. The sub and the manufacturer have enough evidence to play with as they try to figure out who bites the bullet. You should not have to wait, it mustbe replaced and there's no excuse for not doing it immediately. The only thing that confuses me is your use of the words tile grout adhesive, there is no such thning. There is tile, there is adesive orthinset but the grout is neither. Grout fills the joint between tiles and does nothing in the area of adhesion.