Bath seal

[Gary K]

Hi all.
First time poster so hope this is in the right place.

I have a bath installed with a sealing strip that goes behind the tiles ( see pictures).
The gap above the tiles is sealed with white silicone which I have now cut out to replace.

The problem that I have is over a period of a year or so, the silicone seems to shrink and pulls/lifts the bottom of the seal off the bath which then lets water underneath. I cannot cut the existing seal out and replace with something else as the gap from the tiles to the bath would be too great so what is my best option?
Could put silicone under the seal which may help stick it in position or alternatively, put another seal on top to bridge the small gap that forms, although sealing a seal seems like a bodge to me!

Would it be better to use grout to fill the gap between tile and seal as this will not shrink but will be a nightmare to remove again if it does not work.
Another option may be to raise the bath slightly so that there is more pressure on the seal but this will entail taking off and raising the shower screen which is also sealed to the tiles with a bead of silicone.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[opps]

Just run silicone along the top gap. Degrease it with meths or isopropyl alcohol first.

It might be a good idea to fill the bath with water first if there is a degree of slump in the floor.

Those strips are absolute DIY pants.

You may be able to lift the edges where it meets the bath and squirt silicone under. Use a silicone profiling tool dipped in dilute washing up liquid to remove any excess silicone sealant.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

How are those seals supposed to work if you don't seal above and beneath with silicone anyway? I don't really see the point of them. Does it rise up behind the bottom row of tiles?

 

[Gary K]

Just run silicone along the top gap. Degrease it with meths or isopropyl alcohol first.

It might be a good idea to fill the bath with water first if there is a degree of slump in the floor.

Those strips are absolute DIY pants.

You may be able to lift the edges where it meets the bath and squirt silicone under. Use a silicone profiling tool dipped in dilute washing up liquid to remove any excess silicone sealant.

Thanks for reply. That was my thoughts.
I have raised the bath by about 5mm at tap end which seems to have made a much better seal and will attempt to clean under the seal before putting some silicone underneath at the other end of the bath to provide a secondary seal. Was also considering cutting some little plastic wedges to push into the gap above the seal that will get lost behind the new silicone that will help force the seal down and prevent the silicone pulling it up when it shrinks.

 

[Gary K]

How are those seals supposed to work if you don't seal above and beneath with silicone anyway? I don't really see the point of them. Does it rise up behind the bottom row of tiles?

Yes, the seal was put in when the tiles went on and has a moulding on the back that goes up the back of the tiles about an inch - same as tile edging.

 

[The Donut]

Fill the bath prior to sealing , should give you some play .

D

 

[Madrab]

Sounds like the bath may be fitted without a wall baton and the bath is flexing and pulling the seal/silicone off the edge. Stand in the bath and push down on the edge and see if it flexes, if it does then unfortunately it will always do it unless it's shored up. The silicone will last for so long before it will pull away again. Is it leaking down the wall behind?

Filling it full of water may help a bit but if you use it for showering too, then the weight of a person pulls the bath out of shapes in a specific way that is hard to counter.

The other option would be to cut that seal out and create a full silicone seal. Is it plasterboard behind it?