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I have a walk in shower with a tile pan and cultured marble walls. Where the floor meets the walls, some of the caulking is coming off (see pictures). Behind the caulking that's coming off almost feels like silicone caulking. It has the same "squishiness" to it.

The caulking thats coming off is harder with a slight texture. It's not grout; it's softer than grout. Maybe they used this caulk on top of the silicone?

I've also included pictures of the construction process for the shower. It looks like they used some water resistant backboard and a Schluter Kerdi waterproofing kit (the orange stuff).

Should I be worried about this caulking coming off from a waterproofing perspective? Also, what you do to address it; just recaulk?

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  • With the silicon like stuff behind, probably not that much. Silicon does not play nice with stuff on top of it, so if you want something white/colour there, will need to remove the old silicon and use a coloured silicon in it's place.
    – crip659
    Commented Nov 13, 2023 at 20:40
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    @crip659, but take care against wrecking the underlying waterproofing if you're digging around in there with metal tools or even plastic tools. This is why I prefer a fillet bead in such corners. I hate how EJ171 from from the TCNA Handbook has no fillet bead detail.
    – popham
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 22:56

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The "orange stuff" is the waterproofing, not the caulk. Caulk is for appearance qualities only, and to prevent unsightly junk from accumulating in crevices. It's difficult to get anything to adhere properly on top of silicone caulk, except perhaps more silicone. Due care should be taken when removing/cleaning old caulk, as the Kerdi waterproofing membrane underneath is pretty fragile stuff.

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It's fairly critical because you can't tell how well sealed the wall boards are, or how much moisture is getting through/underneath.

I'd want to remove all the old stuff, clean down very thoroughly and then properly re-caulk that joint with a good quality, branded silicone. Try to get a solid caulk, i.e. not smeared out to nothing at the edges like some folks do. I'll see if I can find a picture I have to illustrate. Better silicone bead profiles

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