Bath tiling/sealing - old chestnut

Girding loins for bathroom refit. How to seal round bath?

Sealing strip under bottom row of tiles. BTDTGTTS. Flexible and effecive. Excellent to start with, then goes discoloured and can't be changed, becoming a major irritant.

Sealing strip on surface. Flexible and effective. Looks crap but can, in extremis, be changed

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Votes?

Reply to
Bob Mannix
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No contest. The final option; using a Fugenboy to finish off.

David

Reply to
Lobster

Blimey, I can't afford to pay staff :o)

Reply to
Bob Mannix

"Bob Mannix" wrote

You forgot one important bit - careful fixing of substantial support around the bath edges - additional support for the base if you or other users are heavy!. If the bath can't move significantly (other than due to expansion which should be considered) there's less chance of the seal being stressed and broken.

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

3
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Hmmmm. A decent bath shouldn't flex too much itself but the floor will sag slightly so there will always be some movement to accomodate (hence the filling with water before sealing). I don't like the idea of edge supports myself as one doesn't want the bath hanging by the edge supports in any way (although I am open to being convinced). Floor support where appropriate, yes.

Reply to
Bob Mannix

..and some pieces of hardwood under the feet to spread the load. The small feet can indent soft floorboards.

Reply to
John

Yup, my preferred solution. If the bath has a roll edge, then I normally chop out the wall a little so it can sit in the wall half an inch, and tile down to just above the bath so that you don't have a natural moisture trap and the water naturally runs onto a bit of the bath that will drain. Fill with water, seal.

Reply to
John Rumm

I'll do just that!

Reply to
Bob Mannix

"Bob Mannix" wrote

I was specifically advised by the plumbers merchant to provide good support to the long bath edge. They suggested a baton along the wall. The bath is a good quality item with an "aquanite" coating - guaranteed for 25 years, so not a flexi B&Q special. One problem is that when you get out of a bath you tend to lift your top half out by pushing upward off the bath sides IYSWIM. As the upstairs walls in my place are naff to say the least, I ended up making a 2x2 frame to support the edges. I also put some blocks under the base of the bath which would aleviate problems due to sinking feet mentioned by others. I actually forgot the old "fill-the-bath-before-sealing" bit. So I checked afterwards with a straight edge across the top of the bath. There was no discernable movement of the edge between empty bath and full bath + me!

HTH

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

Fair enough!

Reply to
Bob Mannix

Position the bath so it's about 10mm below the bottom tile and flill the gap with flexible silicone sealer. Trim it with one of the right angled scrapers for a good finish. Let that skin over and adjust the bath feet up a couple of mm to compress the seal. Let the seal set completely and raise the bath slightly more. This puts the seal in compression and will accomadate slight movement. It does assume the bath's on adjustable feet though. After this, I tile around the edge with quadrant tiles set into seal- and-stick. That way I've a double seal.

John

Reply to
John

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