New sealant round bath bringing tiles off

[Richard Conway]

Hi all,

I replaced the old sealant around our bath over the weekend. I took advantage of the fact that we were away to fill the bath with water and do the sealant before leaving, letting it fully set before emptying the bath on our return.

All went well and looked good until this morning I noticed yesterday that some of the grout around the bottom two rows of tiles was falling our and this morning noticed that some of the tiles had become loose.

I can only assume that this has happened because the solid sealant between the tiles and the bath have pushed up on the tiles when the bath has been emptied.

Is this my fault - or is it the fault of whoever put the tiles up (previous owner I assume, who seems to have made a c*ck-of everything else!) I am of the opinion that I did my bit properly and that the tiles were not bonded to the wall very well - but am willing to be put in my place if that's not the case :)

Finally, what are the chances of me removing the few loose tiles and refitting them without it looking obvious?

Thanks, Richard

[sm_jamieson]

What sealant did you use ? Simon.

[Richard Conway]

Evo-Stik Sanitary Sealant:

[Pete C]

How wide/deep is the seam and how much movement when the bath is empty/full? That will make a lot of difference.

Might be better to fill most of the seam with closed cell foam eg from pipe insulation, then put sealant on top. Also fill the bath 1/2 to

2/3 fill so it takes some movement either way.

cheers, Pete.

[Chris Bacon]

Quite good, if you're careful. Make sure there are no high spots on the wall or tile. Scrape back on the wall. Remove all grout from the fallen-off tiles, and around the edges of the ones still in place. Re-stick tiles, adjusting level as needed, grout with an appropriately-coloured grout.

[Richard Conway]

The gap is quite big and it does vary quite a lot between full and empty. It only seems to be two or three tiles though and the gap was the same all along, so I'm tempted to think that maybe the few coming off weren't adhered very well.

Is this good advice in general? I always thought you should really fill it, or is that just for when tiling?

[Pete C]

Hmmm, maybe worth looking into how well the bath is supported... or not! Plenty of info in past postings:

If the others can be prised off easily then worth doing at the same time I'd have thought.

More of a workaround if all else fails, to minimise the force on the tiles.

When tiling it would best be empty, I'd have thought.

Leaving a gap between the tiles and bath that is at least 1/4" and 4x the amount it moves when filled would be ideal IMHO.

There are special seals that can take a lot of movement and look a bit ugly too, but it's better to ensure the bath is well supported so they aren't needed.

cheers, Pete.

[Richard Conway]

Cheers for that - it is quite probably that the bath is not supported properly - as I said, the guy who had the house before has done plenty of dodgy things! I suspect that its going to be a bit tricky to retrospectively fit a batten along the wall edge without removing the bath which I really don't want to do.

My two thoughts were:

1) Try and fit maybe 2 battens vertically on the wall under the bath. Theses would support the lip at the top but be screwed at the bottom where access is not restricted by the bath itself. This would only work if there was actually enough room to do it - which is doubtful

2) If there is enough space between the bath and the wall when the tiles are removed, it may be possible to push two or three angle brackets up behind the bath and screw them to the wall above it before tiling over. The L would fit tightly against the lip so as to support it.

If I were to do either of these, what state should the bath be in while I attach them - full or empty? I don't want to attach supports when its empty to find that the bath can't take the movement when I fill it up and starts to crack or something :)

[Pete C]

Probably worth investigating how it's supported underneath first, it might look as if it's been done by 'The Cat In The Hat'...

I'd be very wary of supporting the lip on points, it may well do just that. If the support underneath is checked and sorted then it may well be OK.

Also check the frame round the panel is supporting that side well.

cheers, Pete.

[Richard Conway]

Just thought I'd give an update as to the progress with this.

I took the loose tiles off over the weekend and three things became apparent:

1) The tiles hadn't be well adhered in the first place - the wall was uneven and although the adhesive was covering the whole wall, it only touched the back of the tiles at a few points. 2) The plaster behind the tiles just above the bath was wet and crumbly

- probably due to the old sealant being crap. I don't think this contributed to the problem though because it's only in a couple of places and did need some poking at to pull it off.

3) The bath is supported by some kind of metal brackets - I found one when I poked the plaster off the wall - it seems they were put on before the wall was skimmed.

So, I am relinquishing all blame for this one, and I'm gonna replace the crumbled plaster with some one coat and re-tile then re-seal. My only question is, how long should I leave the on coat to dry before tiling? Would a week be enough or should it be longer?

[Chris Bacon]

"Stuck"?

Just 'till it's dry - that'll depend on how thick it is. You can speed things up a little by using a fan (not heater) after a day or two.

[Richard Conway]

I did consider this but thought it might be a bit foolish putting an electric fan in the bath!