Hi - daughter stays in the shower till the hot water runs out :) Waters started coming through the sealant now and into the kitchen :( I've put on several layers of silicone but it hasn't stopped it and it looks a mess now. I saw this at Screwfix
Thanks,
Trevor P.
Go to Wickes, they do a self adhesive tape which has a fold along it's length. It is excellent and cheap.
Is your bath acrylic, rather than enamelled steel? If it is acrylic, do the edges of the bath, where they meet the walls, move with the weight of the water and the person who is sat or stood in the bath? If the edges move, even slightly, then whatever form of sealant or sealing strips you use will only be water-tight temporarily before the movements destroy the seal. In my experience, acrylic baths need to have their sides supported by a timber frame otherwise you get movement and water penetration. If this is the problem then the only fix I am aware of is to remove the acrylic bath, build a wooden supporting frame, then put the acrylic bath back on that. Or, replace the acrylic bath with a steel bath. Or, insist that your daughter doesn't use the shower apart from hair washing sitting down (cheapest option).
In case anyone doesn't know, these are the two-part telescopic sealing strips, with one part glued to the wall and the other to the shower tray/bath. So they allow a lot of relative movement whilst still maintaining a seal, as the two parts of the seal are always overlapping.
If the problem is shower water running down the wall onto the seal, I would think that the results would be pretty good. Less good for tidal waves from kids in the bath...
Personally, rather than face the job of stiffening up the bath/shower tray, I'd give this a go. I can't really see how it *couldn't* work - unless the relative movement was really extreme, like half an inch or so.
You could, of course, make an equivalent quite cheaply. Plastic/aluminium angle is widely available and could be glued or even double-sided taped to the bath/shower tray edge. Combine that with a nice hardwood/softwood strip fixed along the wall, with a rebate routed out of the back so that it can be fixed to overlap the vertical part of the angle.
"Trevor" wrote;
Another option is a strip of upvc bath sealing edge that some of the tile shops sell. I bought a couple of 2 metre lengths from Tops Tiles. These are cheaper than the Screwfix solution but dearer than the rolls of self adhesive bath sealing tape which V-fold along their length. The ones I bought have adhesive just along one edge, the edge that sticks to the wall, so that the edge that covers the edge of the bath is not stuck and can move. They were OK for a few months but eventually some of the adhesive failed in places due to the effects of moisture and slight movement of my acrylic bath. Prior to trying this I tried rolls of self-adhesive bath sealing tape but after a short time the adhesive failed. I tried using the adhesive along the wall and bath sides, then when that failed I tried using the adhesive on the wall-only side so that movement of the bath edge didn't pull on the strip, but that didn't make any difference. The movement on the edge of my acrylic bath is only a couple of millimetres but this seems sufficient to weaken the adhesive after a few months. My experience so far has been that bath edge silicone sealants and sealing strips result in a splash-proof but not water-proof seal if used with an acrylic bath that moves slightly. Assuming you have an acrylic bath and slight movement of the edge, if the adhesive used with the Screwfix Teleseal Sealant Strip can cope with moisture and slight movement then you might be able to get a water-proof seal. All traces of old silicone sealant must be removed before using any adhesive.
Thanks for the info guys - yes,it's acrylic and does move a wee bit when you get in. Think I'll give the Wickes strip a go first if it's cheap,then go on to the Scewfix if it doesn't work.
Trevor
I used to have the same problem, multiplied by three cos I live with three women. I tried loads of various selants, all failed after a while and the movement in my bath is only a millimeter or two. What did solve the problem was I bought upvc window architrave (the stuff they stick on the outside brick to cover the gaps between the window and brickwork), I put a thick bead of adhesive on one side of the back and a thin bead of sealant on the other side of the back. This was then placed on the bath edge, the thick bead of adhesive means the UPVC sits on an angle and makes any water hitting it run into the bath. When that had dried, I then put a very thin bead of sealant where the UPVC meets the wall. Waited for that to dry. Finally I stuck a piece of UPVC against the wall using the same method and its been totally dry ever since. In effect I now have a 93degree angle (water cant collect on it) with these pieces of UPVC, it looks neat and works too. You could always evict your daughter. :p
Thanks Pete,might try your last idea...... :)
Had exactly the same problem caused by the bath flexing and bought Teleseal for it. Making the corners waterproof was the only tricky bit but apart from that it fitted easily and more importantly worked for several years before a new bathroom was installed.
Not cheap, but it did the job!
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