Better bath seal - chaos from this one!

[Ken Figenus]

Drips on my head downstairs as daughter was showering!

New bath (professionally) fitted about 5 yrs ago was a bit low for existing tiles so chap left me to seal it up... I sealed bath to wall and then put a flexible sealing strip to close the gap (from a UPVC window place). I sealed it REALLY well with expensive branded anti mould silicone. But it has now given way...



What would be better guys? You can see the mould in the gap and a few tiles have come off now too as the plaster got damp.

Cheers

[V8RX7]

Assuming it has dropped...

Jack the bath back up to meet the tiles (using the adj legs)

Reseal with sanitary silicone

Has a tile come off ?

[Ken Figenus]

The plumber said at the time that he couldnt fit the bath any higher (cant remember why - but must have been plausible).

The plaster is where the tiles have come off when I removed the sealing strip.

[Spudler]

Ken Figenus said:

I sealed it REALLY well with expensive branded anti mould silicone.

Cheers

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

[Little Lofty]

You really need to retile the wall to have any hope of making that watertight.

[Ken Figenus]

Spudler said:

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

Ha! No! That's where the cover strip snapped when I tried to remove it after first knifing through much of the silicone I could get to Although clearly the job/approach has failed/wasn't the best solution?

I did weigh the bath down with some water before doing it too.

That strip is plonked back in for reference - so might look like bad sealing but its been removed once!

Edited by Ken Figenus on Sunday 8th January 19:00

[Spudler]

Ken Figenus said:

Spudler said:

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

Ha! No! That's where the cover strip snapped when I tried to remove it after first knifing through much of the silicone I could get to Although clearly the job/approach has failed/wasn't the best solution?

I did weigh the bath down with some water before doing it too.

That strip is plonked back in for reference - so might look like bad sealing but its been removed once!

Edited by Ken Figenus on Sunday 8th January 19:00

Fair enough!
Looks like it's hanging on for dear life!

[Murph7355]

Little Lofty said:

You really need to retile the wall to have any hope of making that watertight.

This IMO.

You now have first hand experience that trying to avoid this is a false economy

[Fore Left]

Little Lofty said:

You really need to retile the wall to have any hope of making that watertight.

Especially as the grout - which looks suspiciously like sealant - has holes in it so is also letting the water through.

[g7jtk]

Does the bath actually touch the wall?
Does it move if you shake it?

The answers should be yes and no.

[klmhcp]

Spudler said:

Ken Figenus said:

Spudler said:

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

Ha! No! That's where the cover strip snapped when I tried to remove it after first knifing through much of the silicone I could get to Although clearly the job/approach has failed/wasn't the best solution?

I did weigh the bath down with some water before doing it too.

That strip is plonked back in for reference - so might look like bad sealing but its been removed once!

Edited by Ken Figenus on Sunday 8th January 19:00

Fair enough!
Looks like it's hanging on for dear life!

I think the word you need is 'apologies!'

[Spudler]

klmhcp said:

Spudler said:

Ken Figenus said:

Spudler said:

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

Ha! No! That's where the cover strip snapped when I tried to remove it after first knifing through much of the silicone I could get to Although clearly the job/approach has failed/wasn't the best solution?

I did weigh the bath down with some water before doing it too.

That strip is plonked back in for reference - so might look like bad sealing but its been removed once!

Edited by Ken Figenus on Sunday 8th January 19:00

Fair enough!
Looks like it's hanging on for dear life!

I think the word you need is 'apologies!'

How do you work that out!
It's still bodged!

[TallPaul]

To be honest, from those pictures nothing looks "professionally fitted"! I cant think of any reason a "professional" wouldn't be able to bring the bath up to the tiles, ideally the tiles should sit on the bath, not behind it. Let the wall dry, take the bath out, fit a wooden batten around the wall so the bath can sit on it, remove the lower run of tiles, fit the bath with plenty of silicone to bond it to the now dry wall, then replace the bottom row of tiles and use grout. Finally, fill the bath and then replace the silicone.

[klmhcp]

Spudler said:

klmhcp said:

Spudler said:

Ken Figenus said:

Spudler said:

No you didn't.
You bodged it plain and simple.
Looks like you used two lengths instead of one.
Apart from badly applied sealant I'm guessing you didn't fill the bath first?

Ha! No! That's where the cover strip snapped when I tried to remove it after first knifing through much of the silicone I could get to Although clearly the job/approach has failed/wasn't the best solution?

I did weigh the bath down with some water before doing it too.

That strip is plonked back in for reference - so might look like bad sealing but its been removed once!

Edited by Ken Figenus on Sunday 8th January 19:00

Fair enough!
Looks like it's hanging on for dear life!

I think the word you need is 'apologies!'

How do you work that out!
It's still bodged!

How?

[TallPaul]

Also, clamp the bath to the wall, easy with a couple of bits of wood and make sure the frame under the room side of the bath is supporting it properly. As has been said, there should be absolutely no movement of the bath, especially if its plastic.

[yellowtang]

If the grouting is all as bad as the bit we can see, then you need to re-tile. Looks like the grouting wasn't mixed properly and is full of air bubbles.

The silicon doesn't look very well applied either.

Start again, that's just a bodge.

[Gunk]

To fit a bath or shower cubicle properly it needs to be chopped in to the wall, plastered in, then sealed before tiling. You then tile and seal again. If done like this it will never leak. Also the bath should be filled full of water whilst sealing it.

That bath in the photo needs to be completely taken out and refitted properly, it will always leak fitted like that.

[Ken Figenus]

Ohh God! Big job! Please tell me there is some magic NASA 'L' shaped super sealer strip available in Wilko?

Wouldnt mind so much but the replacement 5 years ago was an insurance job so should have been done properly. I'll get the panel off and have a look what went on - even if it was at the full extent of its adjustment then a few blocks of wood would have bought it up to meet the tiles...

Thanks for the input chaps - appreciated.

[Slagathore]

Ken Figenus said:

Ohh God! Big job! Please tell me there is some magic NASA 'L' shaped super sealer strip available in Wilko?

Wouldnt mind so much but the replacement 5 years ago was an insurance job so should have been done properly. I'll get the panel off and have a look what went on - even if it was at the full extent of its adjustment then a few blocks of wood would have bought it up to meet the tiles...

Thanks for the input chaps - appreciated.

You can get some quadrant like seal strip, but it won't fix the problem.

You'll end up with it leaking without noticing and causing more damage to the floor/wall.

The guy who fitted it is a tt. He knew it was bodged, hence why he pissed off and left you to seal it, as he didn't want any come back when it inevitably failed.

[Murph7355]

Ken Figenus said:

Ohh God! Big job! Please tell me there is some magic NASA 'L' shaped super sealer strip available in Wilko?

Wouldnt mind so much but the replacement 5 years ago was an insurance job so should have been done properly. I'll get the panel off and have a look what went on - even if it was at the full extent of its adjustment then a few blocks of wood would have bought it up to meet the tiles...

Thanks for the input chaps - appreciated.

I don't believe there is. Heart of hearts you know it would be making a bad job worse.

I know this doesn't help now, but as an insurance claim why oh why did you accept it in the first place? No way on earth I would be covering a tiler/plumber's incompetence.