Hello, I have a Fiberglass shower stall in my bathroom, and on the base of where you stand to take a shower, there is a hairline crack. How can I repair this small but needed repair without tearing out the entire stall and replacing it with a new one. Can someone give me some advice on what is the best approach to repairing this crack. Is there a product like at HomeDepo where you can suggest I try using to repair this. Thanks for your advice! Pete
Yeah, there are products out there, though a crack in the floor doesn't sound good. I've been told that this is a repair that you really want to have a professional do. There are people who patch tubs for a living.
Odd thought, but you might want to post this in rec.boats. As the other person said, you might want a pro to do this work, but if you really want to do it yourself, I'm sure you'll get some great fiberglass repair suggestions in that other newsgroup.
You should also look into what caused the floor to crack. Was there enough stability under the floor or is it in mid air and able to over flex?
Replace it with a cast iron tub.
Is the crack right through the floor and leaking? It might be a surface crack that is not critical.
If the crack has severed the reinforcing, you will have to remove it to repair. That kind of fracture will require reinforcing on the backside to repair. If the crack is just in the resin/gelcoat and the glass fibers are intact, you can sand out the surface until you get to the fibers and then fill the sanded area til it's back to the same thinkness as the adjacent material. What you fill it with will depend in part on what it's made of - acrylic, polyester, vinylester etc. I've never dealt with glass reinforced acylic so you'll have to use google. For gelcoat, you can repair it as you would a boat:
Mike
If appearance is not a major concern. A basic fiberglass patch kit should do the trick. These usually come with a can of resin and one of hardner plus an assortment of fiberglass fabric patches (matts). Get these at most hardware stores.
The resulting repair looks like a "bubble gum" or "big bandaid" patch but it will hold the water in.
With a bit of careful sanding before and after applying the patch, and some matching color Gel coat, you can blend it in reasonably well. It will be difficult to make an invisible repair though.
"Doug Kanter" wrote in news:vwELf.15713$ snipped-for-privacy@news01.roc.ny:
Problem is;fiberglass(epoxy resin) takes a few weeks to cure to FULL strength. I would not buy my epoxy resin from HD,either. West Systems,System Three,or RAKA.
"PipeDown" wrote in news:J_JLf.3358$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:
Several layers of fiberglass cloth(from a boat products store) and epoxy resin;do the *whole* bottom,not just the cracked area,then fill in with the finishing coat of epoxy/filler(fumed silica).Then use a tub refinishing kit from HD,the one for fiberglass tubs.
Hint;System Three(systemthree.com,IIRC) has a booklet you can download for free that is EXCELLENT for learning about epoxy-glass work.
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