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really good bath sealant
6 Answers
Our bath sealant let us down and eventually the ceiling underneath fell in, the bathroom installer at the time [3yrs ago] assured us it was the same type of sealant used for swimming pools !!!! say no more, we resealed and its leaked again though not badly. Is it the Cif cleaner I use to clean the bath causing the problem or what ?
Can anyone recommend a really good strong sealant, I am willing to go to any building/plumbing merchant within M25. Please some kind person help me.
Can anyone recommend a really good strong sealant, I am willing to go to any building/plumbing merchant within M25. Please some kind person help me.
Answers
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This is probably more about installation procedure than the actual product you are using.
To kill the 'which product' issue, these sealers are all based on silicone but have different formulations. IMO the best ones are marked as High Performance Shower and Bath Sealants and have a 25 year life claim on the tube. This sounds impressive, but can't be proven. This is the widely available Unibond product - shouldn't cost you more than a tenner.
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Unibond_High_Performance _Shower_and_Bathroom_Sealant__6087622
Regarding technique, you really need a gap of between 3-5mm between the bottom of the tile and the flat surface of the shower tray - anything less and you can't easily get a decent amount of bead in there. If this has been leaking slowly for a while, the adhesive/plasterboard/whatever behind there is probably mouldy or pappy and it is really difficult to make it permanent job. You may have to bite the bullet and cut out the bottom row of tiles, clean out the whole area and refix new bottom row, then force the new silicon in there. I don't make the bead protrude - so that the householder can't easily rub it with the CIF cleaner.
Lastly you may have an issue with minor movement between floor and wall when someone stands in the shower - look for this, because no matter how good the sealant, minor movement will stretch the sealant bead and in the end it breaks along the seal line. When sealing a bath, the classic way around this is to fill the bath with water BEFORE filling with sealant - then the sealant is under compression not tension when empty of water. You could try the same technique in the shower tray by loading a few dozen bricks in there to mimic the weight of a person whilst you do the job.
To kill the 'which product' issue, these sealers are all based on silicone but have different formulations. IMO the best ones are marked as High Performance Shower and Bath Sealants and have a 25 year life claim on the tube. This sounds impressive, but can't be proven. This is the widely available Unibond product - shouldn't cost you more than a tenner.
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Unibond_High_Performance _Shower_and_Bathroom_Sealant__6087622
Regarding technique, you really need a gap of between 3-5mm between the bottom of the tile and the flat surface of the shower tray - anything less and you can't easily get a decent amount of bead in there. If this has been leaking slowly for a while, the adhesive/plasterboard/whatever behind there is probably mouldy or pappy and it is really difficult to make it permanent job. You may have to bite the bullet and cut out the bottom row of tiles, clean out the whole area and refix new bottom row, then force the new silicon in there. I don't make the bead protrude - so that the householder can't easily rub it with the CIF cleaner.
Lastly you may have an issue with minor movement between floor and wall when someone stands in the shower - look for this, because no matter how good the sealant, minor movement will stretch the sealant bead and in the end it breaks along the seal line. When sealing a bath, the classic way around this is to fill the bath with water BEFORE filling with sealant - then the sealant is under compression not tension when empty of water. You could try the same technique in the shower tray by loading a few dozen bricks in there to mimic the weight of a person whilst you do the job.
Hello, buildersmate advice is good. I had the same problem as you and only solved it with the fill-the-bath trick. I recently installed a bath/shower for my son and used a sealant strip kit from Screwfix - item 42627. Basically it is a plastic strip that bonds to the rim of the bath. This strip has a flexible vertical bit that can slide up and down inside a vertical groove on the bit that bonds to the wall/tiles. This takes care of any bath movement. I extensively tested it by showering hot and cold water directly over the strip when the bath was full and empty and it really works. It costs about �30 for enough for three sides of a bath but for peace of mind - especially if there's a room below the bath, I reckon it is worth it. Cheers, Andy
if as bm pointed out about the mould/wet or other undesirables lurking behind the bottom row tiles and if you still require a bit of info you could try with hair dryer to warm away any moisture for the new seal to be successful then do the water in bath routine but try to get as much seal as possible twixt tile and bath then when seal has dried you can very carefully trim excess of with (Stanley) blade only flat to the tile cut down and along with care to bath top HTH Tez
CT1 Sealant is what we use for all our sealant jobs these days - it's totally mould resistant, and retains flexibility so doesn't dry and allow gaps to appear over time. Lots more information on this site: http://www.sealantstore.co.uk if you want it!
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