Filling gaps around baths

Anyone got any favoured tricks/techniques for filling a big gap between a bath and the tiles ? (about half an inch)

Current plan is to wedge in a suitably cut piece of wood, fill around the back with expanding foam to seal it in, and finish off with silicone. Just wondered if anyone had any better ideas.

Reply to
Geronimo W. Christ Esq
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you can buy 'strips' to do the job with from diy stores

although i have seen the 'border' tiles used before with good visual effect!

Reply to
Gav

If it is along the long side, can't the bath be pushed over a bit?

John

Reply to
John
[gav wrote:]

Are you talking about the strips of self-adhesive plastic ? These were on the bath already and they didn't do the job. It appears since long before I bought the house that water was leaking down through the gap and through to my kitchen, an awful mess. I want to get it properly stopped up.

No, it's at the short side. The long side is fine, it's just that the bath isn't a particularly tight fit into the gap where it lies.

Reply to
Geronimo W. Christ Esq

I had to cover a large gap between my bath and wall because the wall wasn't very even .I filled the gap with silicone then found a broad plastic trim in Homebase that was ,I think,intended for the top of tiles as a trim .I cut it to length and mitred the corner then fixed it in place with silicone and it looked good.

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart

Geronimo W. Christ Esq brought next idea :

You can buy a plastic strip on a roll, which folds down the middle to form a 90 deg. On the back is a sticky putty to form the seal, looks reasonable if the corners are properly mitred. It also stays stuck if the surfaces are clean to start with and properly pressed down into place. Use a wallpaper edge roller so you get good pressure on it to form the seal.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

We brought the tiles actually on to the bath and then finished it off with tile edging - we like it anyway :o) Have a look at these two photos to see what I mean

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Reply to
Mogweed

I wonder if this gap might be at the tap end

Reply to
Stuart Noble

Batten on the wall, tile strips to match the wall. Grout. Done.

P.

Reply to
zymurgy

Yeah, we did that with ours....they all fell off within six months due to the bath expanding with the hot water and contracting when it's empty.

Reply to
Phil L

Now that's surprising - did ours over 3 years ago and still as good as the day it was done. And I'm over 19st so you'd think the bath gets a good flexing :o)

Mogweed.

Reply to
Mogweed.

shampoo etc) - I'd love to do that but I'd not be able to find tiles that match the existing ones too easy. Retiling could be an option ..

Reply to
Geronimo W. Christ Esq

Thanks for the reply. The plastic trim stuff was already on it and it has been leaking for a long time, although the lack of silicone at the back may have been the reason for that.

The trouble with the plastic trim is that it doesn't seem to sit in the grouted part of the tiling which is obviously slightly recessed relative to the surfaces of the tiles themselves, so any water could seep down between that gap. I think it would still need to be siliconed at least to fill in those gaps prior to adding the trim.

Reply to
Geronimo W. Christ Esq

The stuff I used was not the soft plastic trim but a much thicker,harder trim .....If you want i can send a pic of it . Stuart .

Reply to
Stuart

Ensure that the bath and adjacent wall are thoroughly degreased using lighter fuel or similar. Pack the gap between the wall and bath with kitchen paper ensuring that the paper is pushed well down. Using masking tape mask the bath and the wall. Apply silicon rubber sealant using a sealant gun. Using a paint scraper (or similar straight edged tool) in a single sweep from left to right (right to left if you are left handed) remove the excess sealant. Remove the masking tape straight away by pulling off in such a way that any strands of sealant that pull away from the edges drop back onto the run of sealant. Any imperfections can be VERY GENTLY smoothed by using plenty of saliva applied to one finger.

Reply to
Robert

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