Plastic bath movement, sealing

[Forgone Conclusion]

Hi,

I've just put in a new plastic bath which seems to be made of lighter weight plastic than the last one.

When I push/pull at the side of it there is 1mm or maybe 2mm of movement between the side and the wall.

Will a silicone sealer be ok with this movement? Any particular brand work well in this situation?

Mark.

[John Rumm]

Remember that its only supposed to accommodate movement of about 10% or

15% of the thickness of the bead - so if you are going to have 2mm of movement you would need a decent sized gap to get a thick bead of silicone in.

A trick that helps is to fill the bath with water first so that it is at it's lowest point of movement. Then seal it - let it dry overnight before emptying the water. That should mean in the "rest" condition the sealant is under slight compression which is relaxed as you fill the bath. This will put less strain on the sealant.

The "sanitary" silicones seem to be a little more elastic and also tend to include fungicides and mould inhibitors:-

[Simon Avery]

Hello Forgone

Did you batten it along both sides? Makes a hell of a difference to stability with all plastic baths.

[The Natural Philosopher]

The classic solution is to fill the bath with water before sealing.

I prefer to build up a bit more structure to support the bath as well.

Actually I prefer to buy a decent thickness bath, personally.