Grouting and caulking are essential, protective finishing touches for your home, especially during repairs or renovation. They’re time-consuming jobs that are easy to get wrong, so you may not want to do them yourself. Luckily, plenty of professional services are available out there to choose from, and they’re not too expensive. Read on for a cost estimation for caulking and grout repairs to your home!
Why Is Caulking Important for House Repairs or Home Renovation?
When renovating a home, one of the more important to-dos is caulking. Caulking is essential because it protects the most likely parts of your home from outside elements and critters getting inside; places like window and door frames, baseboards of floors, siding joints, any cracks that might be a problem down the line, and so on. The caulk or sealant fills these gaps and openings and closes them up. This does several things. It prevents water from penetrating from the outside, helping you maintain the air humidity indoors.
The same applies to air and temperature, as well as helping to prevent drafts. Likewise, unwanted insects will not be able to get through properly applied and well-maintained caulk. Ants crawling around your kitchen is not something any homeowner wants. Caulking is used to cover unattractive gaps between baseboards and the floor, for example. Caulked showers, sinks, bathtubs, and other elements in a bathroom are less likely to experience leakage between gaps, preventing any further damages. All in all, caulking is an essential finishing touch to your home.
Tile Grout Cost Per Square Foot
The cost to grout tiles depends mostly on how many grout lines you need to fill. The smaller the tiles and the more the lines, the more there is to clean (if regrouting) and fill. You can expect to pay between $0.50 and $3.5 per square foot for grouting. The national average is around $2 to $3 per square foot for installing grout – materials and labor included. Therefore, you can expect to pay about $240 to $420 for a 120 square foot job, for an average of $350.
Cost To Remove and Replace Grout
Expect to pay between $9 and $18 per square foot for grout removal and replacement. The cost to remove and replace grout depends on the area you’re working on (e.g., a shower or a bathroom floor, for example), the width of the joints, tile size, number of tiles, material type of the floor, etc.
How Much Does It Cost To Regrout A Shower?
Regrouting a shower entails removing the old grout (and not just applying new grout over it, a good recipe for moisture damage down the line), cleaning out the joints or lines between the tiles, applying the new grout, and polishing it. The national average range for such a job is usually between $500 and $1,000, with most paying around $10 to $12 per square foot or $800 to $960 for an 80 square foot bathroom.
Signs You Need to Regrout Your Shower
Inspecting your shower every once in a while is a good way to catch any minor issues before they become big ones. Here are some signs that your grout may need to be replaced:
- Cracks: Small, even tiny cracks in the grout may not look serious (and at that point, they aren’t), but they will continue to grow larger and will eventually allow water to make its way beneath the shower tiles.
- Grout that is easily scratched when you’re cleaning your shower might either be a sign of poorly installed material or that water is passing through it.
- Stains from chemicals such as hair dyes or powerful cleaning products don’t mean that the grout is mechanically damaged, but they can be an eyesore, and you may want to think about replacing the grout.
- Mold and mildew can stain and ruin grout, not to mention being bad for your health. You can manage these fungi with vinegar and other cleaning products, but if they’re well-established and your bathroom is humid, it may be a good idea to start over by replacing the grout.
How Much Does Caulking Cost?
Caulking is important to prevent moisture penetration into and throughout the home. The national average in material costs for caulking the perimeter of a home is $0.15 per linear foot, with the average for both materials and labor coming in at around $2.40 – between $1.40 and $3.30. A 130 linear foot project, for example, would cost you roughly $312, or between $195 and $429.
Cost To Caulk Interior Trim
Caulking interior trim helps remove ugly gaps between the baseboard and the floor and walls. It’s a good idea to caulk rooms around the bathroom to prevent moisture penetration out of the bathroom. The average interior caulking price is similar – between just over $1 and $3 per linear foot.
How Much Does It Cost To Caulk A Shower/Bathtub?
Caulking a tub or shower is something that you should definitely do to prevent water from escaping outside of the bathroom or into the floor – this costs an average of $1.75 per linear foot.
Cost To Caulk Baseboards
Caulking baseboards come in at around $1 to $3 per linear foot. Remember to caulk baseboards before painting and not after to avoid any ugly clashes in color after painting.