Tile Caulking

[getoutdoors]

Hello all,
I am currently in the process of refilling my pool and noticed that the caulking around the perimeter is either missing or falling off.

My question is, can I use regular caulk from stores like HD or Lowe’s or is there a special type of caulk that I need to use?





Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[trivetman]

Outdoors — you will regret just using any old caulk from HD.

The original material is grout not caulk. It can be regrouted. If the grout is failing prematurely particularly in the line between coping and tile you can use a polyurethane caulk. I just did that and it looks like it’ll hold up. I used Vulkem 116 which was recommended by one of the experts on this site (i am not one of those experts ). Another option he gave was Deck o seal’s Onestep.

Whether you go with grout or the polyurethane…chip away and clean out the joint so you have a clean joint to fill. I used a small grout saw ($5 handsaw in the tile aisle) and that helped.

The poly caulk can be pretty messy to work with so go slow and careful and have materials on hand to clean up.

 

[trivetman]

Heres my caulk adventure if you’re interested!

Caulk for tile line?

I had new tile and coping put on last year and I am disturbed to see some of the grout between tile and coping falling off already. A little silicone or something to patch it up? Pool specific product or something from the hardware store? If I leave it that can lead to tiles falling off...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[getoutdoors]

trivetman,

Thank you so much for the suggestion and linking me up to your old thread. It is very much appreciated.

New project for this summer.