How can I repair cracking grout at an entry door threshold?

Question

I am a first time home owner, so please educate me. This is at the entrance of main door. I see this join between tile and the metal near door frame is broken. Is this grout that need to be replaced ? Can this be DIY for a beginner ?

Answer 1

That's grout that broke and should be replaced with caulk. I'm not 100% clear on what all the parts in your picture are but I'm betting there is some movement between the tile and that gray piece to the right of your yellow box. Grout will not last there. It's doing fine between the tiles themselves but completely destroyed where you're highlighting. That's why.

Caulking that gap is absolutely something you can do yourself. Here is a pretty good YouTube video that shows the process. Do yourself a favor and don't use silicone. The silicone will last longer but if you have to ask this, it probably won't be your finest work and silicone is the kind of thing that you have to get right the first time. If you use acrylic, it might fall apart sooner but it's easier to work with, easier to clean up, and if you hate how it came out you can tear it out easily and redo it. Plus it's easier to find acrylic caulk that will match your grout. Home Depot sells it.

Others have pointed out a few important details in the comments:

• Do clear out the old grout from the one grout line between the tile and threshold. You can leave the little nub from the adjacent grout line.
• Brush and vacuum all the dust and debris out of there.
• If the space to be caulked is deeper than it is wide, insert some foam backer rod.
  • It should be a size somewhat larger than the width of the opening and should fit in there snugged and somewhat compressed.
  • You could cut it in half to make it smaller but you do want the rounded edge facing up; the caulking should be shaped like this )( in cross-section, concave at the top and the bottom. This lets the bead flex and stay together better.
• It's not a terrible idea to practice on some scrap wood so you know how the caulk behaves.

But if you screw it up, no big deal, acrylic is easy to redo. Wait for it to dry up, pull out the bead and peel off any little bits, then try it again. Unlike silicone, new acrylic caulk will stick to old acrylic caulk.