Sealing a shower bath rim

Close to finishing the bathroom now. Tiled down to a slightly sloping, flat bottomed shower-bath, leaving a mm or two gap when the bath is filled, due to chipboard floors that give a bit.

Question is, what is the best way to seal the rim - do I fill the gap with tile grout which is solid and inflexible, and then cover with flexible sealant, or do I fill the whole rim with one layer of flexible sealant? I was thinking also of doing a two-stage process of filling just the gap with sealant, then doing a rim seal over the top, after the gap-filler had dried.

Also - any tips to get an even finish to the sealant to stick around the rim - is it wise to use masking tape to mark the edge of the spread?

Any replies appreciated

Ron

Reply to
Big Ron
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Would it be a good idea to fill the tray with enough bricks to weigh the same as a person (or two?) before putting on the sealant?

Robert

Reply to
RobertL

I was just going to fill the bath with water before doing anything

Ron

Reply to
Big Ron

What I did is glue the bath to the wall with a waterproof type of no- nails (not silicone), the filled the slight depression next to the wall where the bath rim turns down with silicone, then tile down to the bath rim leaving around 5mm gap, then filled this gap with silicone. Since I had cut tile edges at the bottom, I sealed these with a grout sealant (will actually seal anything porous). The silicone was flush with the tiles. The bath actually did not move at all, since I had fixed it so well to the walls as well as the floor. Note, the sealant you see all too often, that is across the surface of the tiles and bath, and smoothed with a finger to feather edges is next to useless, since the feather edge peals far too easily. You can use masking tape to get a thicker edge to the sealant, or the silicon smoothing tool called something like fugen-boy to help with this. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

too late for me to follow suit, Simon, the bath and tiles are all in place now! Sounds like a good idea for next time though, but I won't get another house with such flimsy flooring!

Ron

Reply to
Big Ron

I always put the silicone on BEFORE tiling.a..and grout over it...the grout may crack slightly under your weight, but it closes up when you get out, and the seal is perfect and invisible..

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I have discovered the very best way to get perfect silicone edges.

Shove a great bead in, wait till its set completely, and then take a scalpel and a steel rule to it, and peel the surplus off.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Ha ! Modern houses ! You should be OK if you fill the gap with silicone, and try not to get a feather edge. Cheers, Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Fill the bath with water, then apply silicone. Allow it to cure fully before letting the water out. If you only have a 1mm gap then I would recommend using a low modulus product, although ideally you ought to have left yourself a little more gap to ensure the seal is not placed under too much pressure when the bath moves. So you will have to rely on the visible bead of sealant alone to make the seal. The small 1mm bit will help retain it in place and act as a key.

See:

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Also - any tips to get an even finish to the sealant to stick around the

The application process is described here:

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can recommend the fugi set - see the link to the video.

Reply to
John Rumm

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