Leaking shower doors

[Lobster]

I'm tearing out my hair at the mo, because both of our showers have developed leaks, both in the same place AFAICS - at the bottom corner of the door. Given that the same cowboy (ahem) fitted both doors (which are different brand and design) it does suggest a bit of operator error. It's not at all obvious exactly where the water's getting out, just that it's wet immediately below the corner and nowhere else.

Both doors stipulated that they should be sealed with silicone at the outside edge only, and that it was important *not* to seal them inside. I felt very uncomfortable with this arrangment - it just *looks* wrong when when you're in the shower! - but presumably the idea is that any water which gets between the doorframe or base and the wall/tray runs out into the tray, rather than either out onto the floor, or worse, getting trapped behind the silicone.

I've already refitted one of these doors before, about 2 years ago (the other was new a few months back). Any suggestions as to how to proceed? (other than 'rip the doors out and do it again', because I'm sure there's more to the problem than that)

[BigWallop]

What type of doors are they? Are they hinged directly off a wall rail support? Do they make up a complete cubicle? Is the silicone sealant spread right down the outside of the support rail, including along the little bit at the very bottom? Is the seal strip along the bottom fully in place? Sometimes the seal strip can move along the runner it sits in, and this creates a small opening at the end that allows water to pass.

It's always a good idea to squirt sealant along the back of the support, right down the middle and over the screw holes, before you offer the rail to the wall and fix it. This gives the rail a seal to stop water getting right the way through, but it leaves the edges open to allow any condensation that may dribble down off the wall to escape unhindered. It's never a good idea to seal both inside and outside edges, which would only help to trap water in the gap that's left between them. A puddle of water between the wall and the support rail isn't going to do any of them any good.

[Lobster]

OK, to answer the queries: both doors are self-contained, ie a rectangular frame with built-in hinges; one has two sliding doors, the other is a bi-fold one. In both cases they fit between a tile solid wall and a tiled stud partition (ie, the cubicle is tiled on three walls).

Yes, there's silicone right round the outside; both sides and the bottom. Certainly the recently-fitted door doesn't have any seal strip (just rechecked the fitting instructions which I kept, and it doesn't mention one); and I'm pretty sure that the older door was the same. Certainly can't *see* any sealing strip.

Yes, that's exactly what I did, and then sealed the outer face of the door only.

It's obviously getting through somewhere, but I hate the idea of ripping it all out to re-do it, especially as I fitted it really carefully, and as far as I could tell, effectively - ie, I don't know how I could do it any differently next time.

[BigWallop]

And do you think water could actually be getting over the top of the screen when you're showering? Or could steam be condensing on something above or around the screen, then dripping down to look like it comes from the screen itself? Where the door unit fits inside the support rail, does this has a good seal around the edges. Gaps between the support rail and where the door unit slips inside the U shape can be a good way for water to find an escape route.

A good test to see exactly where a leak is forming, is to sprinkle talcum powder all over the screen and surrounds before using the shower. A light dusting is enough to expose where water has been running from, and might show that clear water is running from somewhere that you wouldn't expect.

I hate not being able to actually see such jobs. Very frustrating indeed. :-)

[BigWallop]

The seal strip I mean is along the bottom of the moving part of the doors. Sorry about my wording, it didn't read like what I meant it to. :-)

The bottom of the door should have some sort of sealing strip along it. It fits between the door and the edge of the bath or tray. These stop any water that bounces off the edges of the tray, from running under the doors. Sometimes these can slide along away from the ends, and is sometimes enough to create a gap that the water finds to escape through.

[Lobster]

Well, it's running water for sure, not condensation. One of the two leaks came to light earlier this week when I was in there; SWMBO came running upstairs shrieking about the flood. There was water running out of a light fitting - one of thoise with an inverted glass bowl as a shade, which had filled with about a pint or so of water and was overflowing. When I took it down to empty, I found a vast number of tide marks at different levels all around the inside of the bowl - one for each time the shower's been used - telling me that this leaking has been going on undetected for weeks, if not months, and presumably until now the heat from the light has been enough to evaporate off surplus water in between showers, until now, when we are barely using the light as it's midsummer. Ouch.

Nice idea - will give that one a go!

Thanks David

[BigWallop]

WOW!!! It's enough water to flow through the ceiling in the time it takes for one shower? Are you sure it's the door area that's leaking? This sounds more like a leak in the seal around the tray and wall joint, or on the waste outlet pipework. The drips that flow from the door seals would only be enough to wet the floor, not flow through the ceiling into the room below. You'd have to point the head of the shower at the shower door, and leave the shower doors fully open for that amount of water to get out.

It's not your door screen that's leaking mate, it's the waste outlet under the tray. For damn sure.

[Lobster]

Really don't think so. I can get my hand to the outlet and it's bone dry, and the (inaccessible) pipework goes in the other direction, away from the wet area. Point is, it's evidently been leaking very slowly over a long period, presumably not allowing the damp between the ceiling and floor to dry out, so that it builds up and emerges through the ceiling? The other day when it emerged it happened at the end of a the second (longish) shower in a row.

If it IS a pipework issue then that would really be a mess - the tray was installed by a pro (ha-ha) without any thought given to any future maintenance/access issues (at least the other shower I installed recently myself - less serious leak - is reasonably easy to get at).

David

[Pete C]

Is it sealed on the outside right to the corners and across to the tiles, maybe water is going down the edges and out through a gap.

Try looking underneath while SOH is having a shower, it could be there are gaps that are only visible when the shower tray is under load.

Also sealing it temporarily with duct tape and playing the shower on it, will tell whether the problem is where you think it is.

cheers, Pete.

[mungoh]

If I tried that I'd get a slap!

Mungo (already in "Friday" mood... :-)

[John]

Probably not applicable, Lobster, , but throw it in the mix: we discovered our shower was leaking round the door area recently - big wet patch on the floor, had been hidden for weeks/months by the carpet.

I eventually twigged that the plastic sealing strip which runs along the bottom of the door *frame*, inside the shower, had been clipped on upside down. (These strips clip into a channel, and are easily removable presumably for cleaning.) As a result instead of diverting the water down into the tray, it was funnelling it into the corner of the frame, where the silicone sealant had eventually given up the struggle.

My wife said that she thought that that was the way the blokie had installed the strip when the shower was put in - *years* ago! I couldn't really believe this: it's so obvious (once I'd looked at it critically) that it was upside down. Yet I myself had clipped it on upside down more than once, having cleaned it, because "that's the way I'd found it".

I'm impressed with "pints into the kitchen light fitting". That sounds more than a sealant leakage to me!

John

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I simply gave up and fitted a shower curtain which just runs across the door.

[BigWallop]

It's POETS DAY Mungo.

[mungoh]

If only I could (Piss Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday). Just finished a week working in Dublin and the only direct flight home leaves at 20:50 tonight. Ho hum - time to plan out all the weekend jobs that need done before the new condensing boiler arrives on Monday...

Have a nice weekend folks.

Mungo :-)

[BigWallop]

Same back at ya' Mungo. Good luck with the boiler system.

[Algy Lambert]

replying to Lobster, Algy Lambert wrote: Spread lip balm (Vaseline in the UK) around the outside of where the leak is, particularly the bottom where the door hinge is. Top up as necessary. Works a treat for me.