Repairing a cracked plastic bath?

[Graeme]

We have a bath which was here when we bought the house 15 years ago, and, given the colour (avocado), is probably at least twice that age. It cracked, right across the middle, with me standing in it, enjoying a shower. No, not an insured risk.

Ideally, we would rip the lot out and replace, but that is not an option at present. Bath, bidet, toilet, basin, splashback, towel rails etc. all match, and yes, they are as awful as they sound. To compound the problem, the bath was installed then boxed in to hide pipe runs, and every surface except the floor and ceiling tiled with green tiles I'll never match now. Removing just the bath without breaking tiles would not be possible, so the whole lot would need to be replaced.

So, is it possible to repair the bath? It is some sort of plastic or acrylic. Perhaps fibre glass or similar from below? It needs to be functional rather than pretty.

[tabbypurr]

I tried twice to use the usual fibreglass repair method, didn't last either time. I don't know if it would have a chance if you totally immobilised the joint with mortar under it.

If you insist on trying: drill a tiny hole at ach end of the crack to stop it spreading apply resin then layers of fibreglass & resin feather the outer edges rather than leave them abrupt I'd also support the join & more with a solid lump of mortar to try & help it survive.

NT

[spuorgelgoog]

Is there any accident you could have to the bathroom that would be an insured risk?

Support it underneath with expanding foam and then use a sheet of pond liner? Pump the waste water out into the basin or loo with a small submersible pump.

Or install an temporary cheap shower cubicle in a bedroom and keep coal in the bath.

Owain

[Andy Burns]

From messages elsewhere, the claim has already been refused.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

Luckily, because this house is ex B&B, there is no shortage of baths and showers. Funnily enough, there is a ground floor bathroom which we have never used. It is a real carbuncle on the side of the house, and the plan (round tuit) is to remove the sanitary ware and use it to store coal and firewood.

Picking up other points, I mentioned in the original post that an insurance claim has been refused. Perhaps I should have told them I dropped something in it. Too late now.

[T i m]

That reminds me that giving our plastic corner bath another couple of layers of fibreglass (over the existing) and supporting the base stiffener pad with a cement plinth from the floor was worth the effort. ;-)

If you could get access to the underside, depending on how flat it was and if you like the whole 'Steampunk' look , maybe a pad of a suitably thick (15-18mm?) ply, bonded to the underside (and if not flat over the area that has cracked, a brass strip) with the likes of CT1 and a batch of stainless steel screws (with screw cups?) from the inside out and possibly supported underneath with some expanding foam ... would hold everything in place for now??

With it held stable some funky quality tape PVC strips to cover the crack on the inside, with some dummy ones to add to the effect? ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[alan_m]

Snap! Been there and have the T shirt - the repair may not look pretty. I believe my bath colour was called champagne - the colour of a light brown shit.

You will find underneath of the bath the base is/was strengthened with a piece of chipboard and now it has become wet it has the consistency of porridge.

What I did as temporary fix (for nearly a year until replacing the bath).

Wedge as much scrap wood as you can under the bath to completely support the base, including the bits away from the crack. The bath legs are now somewhat redundant after this failure. If the crack still moves after this exercise then fibre glassing on top will just fail again very shortly.

Get a glass fibre repair kit (car repairs) and fibre glass the inside of the bath. First hand sand the surface of the inside of the bath around the crack to form a key (power tools are too aggressive and the acrylic will melt and clog the sand paper rather than keying it). Resin then layer glass matting, possibly using the finer matting that looks like tissue paper as the top layer

If after, say, 12 hours the repair feels a bit tacky/sticky sprinkle some talcum power over it.

It may not be too difficult to get the bath out without damaging the surrounding floor/tiles too much. I took the bath out whole and then managed with ease to break it down into two rubble sacks for disposal. The bath cuts easily with a sharp wood saw and once you have made some cuts bits break off easily by just bending through 90 degrees. Wear eye protection as the the inside thin layer of the bath will break off as sharp shards of plastic.

Getting a new bath in may be difficult if you have pipes running through the legs etc. In addition measure the bath before removal as I found common size replacement baths were a different size to the 1980s fitted bath (by about 1 inche in length - the old bath being shorter.)

[Graeme]

In message , T i m writes

Wifey said chuck an anti slip mat in the bath to hide the crack :-)

[tabbypurr]

The reason for their refusal may have been that it was avocado :)

NT

[dennis]

My old avocado bath was replaced by the insurers when I broke it. I was on the steps changing the light bulb when the wife opened the door and knocked the steps and and I put my boot on the bath edge hard enough to crack it.

[T i m]

Is the right answer (please tell her from me)! ;-)

I guess if your house is your life then having it like they seem to suggested we should on the TV makeover programs, like a hotel or holiday apartment then a (fixed and watertight) crack in the bottom of the bath would be unacceptable, but ITRW and especially if you make a feature out of it ... ;-)

Personally, whilst I try to make the best of those jobs I do do in the house (and why I really have to go back and do them again) there are more important things to do, like going out and doing stuff, while we still can.

e.g. Now I just need some 3-4mm thick marine ply to do a job on my dinghy so we can get out on the water and someone else can finish the house when we are gone. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Graeme]

In message , T i m writes

Hallelujah. That is exactly our view, more and more so as time passes. We're retired now, and there is some stuff we *have* to do, but we try to spend more time doing stuff we want to do rather than stuff we have to do.

We bought this house 15 years ago, knowing that a lot of things need doing, some minor, some fairly major. We have done quite a lot, but I happily accept I'll be in a box before it is all perfect. So what? Our son will inherit the lot, and he can fix it, live with it or sell it. His choice.

Getting back to the bathroom, we are already using another one, so the broken one is not urgent. Unfortunately, the damaged bath is the length of the room, so walls on three sides, and there is boxing on the 4th side, at the non tap end. Removing the bath by cutting it up may be possible, but getting a new one in without damaging tiles? No. We could remove the bath and replace with a shorter bath, or just a shower, but that would expose non tiled areas, and zero chance of finding matching tiles.

It would worry some people (my brother would be round the rafters), but I just accept that it will or will not be done when I die.

[Graeme]

In message , alan_m writes

Extremely helpful post. Thanks Alan.

[John Rumm]

In cases like that I find its easier to just try and find tiles of a matching size, but contrasting to the original - i.e just make a feature of the change. I needed to tile a bit in our utility room, where it had been tiled in a deep royal blue tile. No chance of finding a replacement. So doing the infill in white tiles with a transition strip at the change looks ok.

So could you get the bath panel off (even if it means wrecking tiles on it)? Fixing the crack with access to the underside will be much easier.

[Brian Gaff]

Unfortunately, the problem with aged baths is that over time the internal stresses tend to make them split if slightly out of level. I'd not want to trust any repair as the crack will just tend to run on and on, at least from the experience of one I've seen. Its getting it to bond with the old material of course that is the challenge.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Yes and of course there is nothing in the style book that says everything in a bathroom has to be the same colour. A bit of creative thinking is needed I think. Brian

[John Rumm]

If you can get to the underside then I would:

Apply resin and mat to the underside - do a wide strip going at least 4 and preferably 6" either side of the crack - build up several layers.

Then support from the underside to the floor.

Now roughen the clean an area say 1" either side of the crack on the "finish" side of the bath, and cover the crack with a fibreglass loaded resin past[1]. That will let you get a completely smooth finish, but the fibres in it make it much stronger than normal car body filler type materials.

[1] The best one I used I got years ago from a specialist model boat suppliers (Prestwich Models). They supplied it in small tins, but it was something they had repackaged from a more industrial sized supply I would guess. Looking at their current web site, they now supply microfibres separately for adding to resin and making your own.

These folks also do a pretty extensive range of stuff that might help:

[Graeme]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

Brian, there is creative and creative :-)

[T i m]

;-)

It does seem to be time / age related doesn't it (in some quarters).

I bought mine (on my own) nearly 40 years ago and we also have a similar range of jobs that still need doing.

Exactly. When I'm about to take my last breath I hope I'll be reminiscing about all the good things we did rather than that wall that needs re-plastering. ;-)

Bingo. Why should they be in any better position than we were. ;-)

Understood.

So I understood.

I guess all that is a function of who else comes in your house, what they would then think of you for having it in whatever state or how much you are bothered by what they think. Ok, it has to be reasonable and useable but the thought of living in something akin to a showroom wouldn't be 'living' in my mind.

I have also been very fortunate that all my girlfriends and both my wives (not *all* of them were around at the same time ) have shared a similar view to me and so we have generally done stuff together.

The current Mrs is also more than happy to roll her sleeves up and muck in with whatever going on, be it taking the plaster off a wall, building a kitcar or refurbishing a boat. ;-)

I am very happy to say I very rarely have to say 'I'd better do / not do xyz' because of 'her indoors' (but I'll often run it past her in any case, as she would with me). ;-)

Cheers, T i m