Cannot seal corner of bath

AkiraDIY · 6 Mar 2019

I removed my bath to fix some floorboards and leaks and the wooden frame for the bath was just bits of wood forced into the corners to wedge it into place.

So I built a frame to properly support the corners but I'm wondering if I made it too high (it was a snug fit).

I've redone the silicone bead and it still leaks like crazy at the corner.

Have I made the frame too high and it's bending the silver beading of the shower boards? Or have I done something stupid?

dilalio · 6 Mar 2019

From your photo, that corner joint looks tight and that it should be waterproof! Are you sure it's leaking from that point or could it be tracking across from elsewhere? Some more photos might help but ultimately there's nowt like eyes on (on site).

Madrab · 6 Mar 2019

Looks ok so is it leaking at the bath edge or is it actually at the seam of the wetboard anbd running down? If it's leaking at the bath for definite then unfortunately it hasn't been sealed properly.

Essentially you should have 3 seals.

Lengths of wall baton are fitted to the wall along any side that the bath will touch. Especially at the internal corners that will be hit by a shower.

Bottom Seal 1: Quality silicone is run the length of the batons, particular attention at the wet corners, bath is sat in a couple of mm from the walls
Side/top Seal 2: Fill the gap with more quality silicone, again watching for the wet corners and press the bath home tight to the wall and down into the baton. Smooth out silicone tightly to fill any gap, again watching the corners
Wall covering is then applied down to the bath egde
Front seal 3: wall covering is sealed to the bath by and final silicone seal along every bath edge at the wall.

Yet to have a leak (in years ...

)

AkiraDIY · 6 Mar 2019

I'm fairly certain it's from that corner, hit every part of the seal with the shower apart from the corner and it was dry. Water in the corner is also OK, but when it hits the wall in that corner, it leaks. Can't see any break in the seal that would let so much water through immediately. My thinking is between that gap in the silver beading and wet board?

I didn't put a wall baton up because I'm not sure what's behind there and didn't want to go knocking holes in the wall or hit a pipe.

I figured the steel legs that came with it that go up to the sides plus some vertical wooden supports at the corners would suffice.

Photo from the underside at the corner. Hard to show really but I notice the water from behind the wooden baton first. So from between the bath and wall.

If it is the wet board, can it be sealed in situ?

Madrab · 6 Mar 2019

Might get away with it. You'll need a hairdryer and good silicone.

You need to dry behind that chrome beading, you might actually be able to pop it off, if you can then even better. Dry the corner with the hairdryer, get it nice and hot to catch as much moisture as possible. Let it cool then apply your silicone.

AkiraDIY · 6 Mar 2019

I think the wet board clips into the beading so it can't be popped out. There's a T behind it basically, not sure I'm explaining it well.

I don't think the corner leaked before I propped the bath up with that baton but not can't be sure.

Is my best bet just to try and force silicon behind the bead and see what happens?

dilalio · 7 Mar 2019

If you "hammered" that prop into place, you may have distorted the bath and corner trim slightly... Enough to bow it out and open up gaps. As @Madrab said, dry it all out and apply clear silicone (Dow 785 is my preferred choice) to the gaps behind the corner bead then, while silicone is still live (wet), remove the prop and you'll see if any silicone oozes out of the gap behind the trim; clean with a tool to remove excess and then trim the prop and replace it without putting strain on the bath corner... You can fix this in place with silicone or no nails rather than screwing it, as it might be the tightening of the screw that is pushing the prop upwards!

oilhead · 7 Mar 2019

Clean out your existing silicone, fill the bath, then reseal. Any movement of the bath from full to empty will push up against the seal, but remain in place when the bath is loaded or stood in.

AkiraDIY · 7 Mar 2019

I did have to hammer the prop in gently so I cut out the silicon from the corner just to get a look at it. Whomever installed these wet boards made a right mess of it.

Took me ages to get all the silicon out of that gap. Bath is perfectly level and other end has no gap with the boards.

So the bath isn't pushing on the corner trim, it's just water getting behind the trim and running down behind the silicon seal. No idea why that trim has started leaking.

It's a 1mm (2mm tops) gap behind the trim, any tips on how to get enough silicon behind it to get a proper seal? Run a bead along it and push it in with a forming tool?

Edit

Do you recommend Dowsil 785 or Dow Corning 785? Seems to be 2 on amazon made by the same company.

Also, ran out of white silicon too, any recommendations?

Harry Bloomfield · 7 Mar 2019

It looks to my eyes, as if the bath is pushing the left panel up and causing it to bow due to the pressure from the bath. The bath needs to be snug, but without exerting any pressure on the panel. another possibility is that the panel is simply bowed from moisture.

You could maybe confirm the point of the leak, by drying the area off, then applying a length of PVC tape between panel and corner.

dilalio · 7 Mar 2019

AkiraDIY said:
Do you recommend Dowsil 785 or Dow Corning 785? Seems to be 2 on amazon made by the same company.

https://www.toolstation.com/dow-dc785-sanitary-sealant-310ml/p50988

AkiraDIY · 7 Mar 2019

Harry Bloomfield said:
It looks to my eyes, as if the bath is pushing the left panel up and causing it to bow due to the pressure from the bath. The bath needs to be snug, but without exerting any pressure on the panel. another possibility is that the panel is simply bowed from moisture.

You could maybe confirm the point of the leak, by drying the area off, then applying a length of PVC tape between panel and corner.

The left panel has the shower fixing and I don't think it's bowed, just a poor picture with residual silicone making it look that way but I'll find out for sure once I get the rest of the silicone off.

Wish I thought of using pvc tape on the panel before cutting that corner out. Would have been nice to know it is definitely the trim before sealing everything again.

Hope it works this time.

Harry Bloomfield · 7 Mar 2019

AkiraDIY said:
The left panel has the shower fixing and I don't think it's bowed, just a poor picture with residual silicone making it look that way but I'll find out for sure once I get the rest of the silicone off.

Wish I thought of using pvc tape on the panel before cutting that corner out. Would have been nice to know it is definitely the trim before sealing everything again.

Hope it works this time.

A straight edge along the panel would help to checked if it was bowed.

AkiraDIY · 7 Mar 2019

Should have thought of that too, been a long day! My straight edge is 800mm so doesn't fit horizontally (~620mm wide). When I put it in diagonally, there's a gap in the middle.

A 600mm spirit level has a smaller gap in the centre. A 300mm glass mirror fits flush all across.

Maybe I have bowed it slightly then, you have some crazy sharp eyes!

So I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Remove all the sealant, trim the props, and put it all back again. Probably silicone the corner trim for good measure.

And if that doesn't work, time to call a professional in.

AkiraDIY · 8 Mar 2019

Got all the sealant out and turns out the bath isn't pushing on the panels, there's a small gap all the way round. Must be the shower fixing pushing the centre in as the panel is fixed via the trim on either end.

Still can't figure out why the chrome trim leaks now and didn't before. Silicone on order, can pick it up tomorrow. Hopefully sealing the trim does the trick

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Cannot seal corner of bath

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