Bathroom Mastic

[Fredrick Skoog]

Hi Everybody,

I've got some mastic around one corner of my bath that is in bad shape and needs replacing. The rest of the mastic is fine and I don't really want to replace it all if I can help it. Could I get away with just carefully removing the dodgy section, cleaning up the area and then putting down fresh mastic - would it bond well to the old but ok stuff that's there? I've already tried 'filling' the areas where the current dodgy stuff has come away from the wall but it didn't seem to take and kept peeling off.

Do I just have to bite the bullet and replace the whole lot?

Thanks

[BigWallop]

If one bit of the sealant is becoming dodgy just now, then it won't be long before the rest goes the same way. Best to remove the old stuff and re-seal the whole thing properly again. Sealant isn't that expensive anyway.

Remember to fill the bath with water, right up to the overflow pipe, so that the weight holds the bath down and opens the gap as wide as it's going to get. Allow the sealant to cure completely before you lat the water out again and it should last a lot longer for you.

[Michael Mcneil]

1 What is causing the defect and why won't the replacement he's tried stick? 2 How will he find an exact match. Batches of the same stuff will have a slightly different colour and aged stuff will have faded too. So by and large this is good advice.

You can get mastics that will stick to almost everything. They have a mixture of solvents that will get through anything. They can be used on wet surfaces and used under water never mind a little rain. So how would you get a mess of it cleaned up? Use masking tape.

Personally I'd use a sharp blade to slice a good section of old stuff off and go over it with the nearest standard mastic I could find. If any more goes west that's when I'd think about replacing it all. It is hardly a big job is it?

[Fredrick Skoog]

Cheers Guys - job done. Thanks for your advice!!