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The contractor's intent was to leave a gap at the bottom of this tile job, to allow drainage, and as an alternative to a caulk job requiring periodic maintenance:

No caulk gap at bottom of tile shower

However it did not work, the gap is too small. A bead of water forms (via surface tension) and sticks there long enough it's still wet by the next shower.

The tile is talavera style, unglazed at the edges and relatively porous. The lip on the shower pan goes up about 15mm. The present gap is about 3-5mm. There's hardy board behind the tile.

I'm thinking a larger vertical gap would have worked. If you were going for a no-caulk tile in a case like this, how high would you have set the first course?

Bryce
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2 Answers2

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  1. Fire your contractor. The tiles aren't set square, the grout lines look HUGE, and the grout is discolored.

  2. Caulk the entire perimeter. You might allow a 1 inch horizontal gap on each side for a weep hole as suggested by @freshop.

Paul Price
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1 inch. So caulk it but leave a 1 inch section uncaulked as a weep hole. Just leaving that inch (per side) uncaulked will be enough to relieve hydrostatic pressure of any water that gets behind the tile. That water wants to go down because of gravity, but if you completely caulk around the gap it won't be able to escape easily and would leave moisture behind your caulking and eventually stains will come through.

freshop
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