Bath/tile seal

[Alison556]

Not technically tiling but my mum wants me to put wetwall or cladding in the bathroom cos it's quicker and easier than tiling. The sealant strip that goes between the bottom of the panels and the bath is only 1.85m long. Her bath sits between two walls - 2m long - and the gap at the between the end of the bath and wall is filled in with ply or something.

Any ideas how to combat this shortfall in the seal lengths? I'm not sure about having a join in there

 

[Burnerman]

I think you'd get by with using some quality silicone sealant surrounding the join, but do lets know what product you intend to use. I'd imagine silicone would be required in any case, and Dow Corning make the best.
I'd also keep the join away from the shower end of the bath just to be on the safe side.
John

 

[Alison556]

Thanks John. The only place I'd think of doing the join is actually at the end of the bath before the ledge - I did think of must making a false wall and turning the space into storage but mother just gave me a tut and a huff.

The seal trims can come with their own sealant - it's Sealux that do them but I can order without the sealant and get the one you recommend. I hate silicone too hahaha Nasty sticky stuff.

 

[Burnerman]

No intention of sounding patronising here Alison but do consider the cladding or whatever carefully.....I did look at it once but very quickly shelved the idea because of the flexibility of the stuff.
I now use tilePANEL or multiPANEL boards, and have never regretted it.
John

 

[Alison556]

Oh I know. I got samples and to be honest, the thinner stuff actually seems to be stronger than the thicker stuff. My brother had said he'd retile but that thought filled mother with dread - having to remove all the old tiles (and knowing our luck, the wall would come with it). I had looked at the tilePANEL - I might price it up using that as well for comparison.

If you use tilePANEL - what do you use for corners and bath seal? Have they got something for it, or is it just good silicone?

 

[Burnerman]

The tilePANEL sheets have their own extruded aluminium corners, joins and edgings, and they are fitted to the sheets with a thin bead of silicone. The bath seal is completely made with silicone, and works perfectly. The sheets are fixed to the wall with a self grab adhesive so there's no penetration where water can go.
It's expensive stuff right enough but makes a superb bathroom!
John

 

[Alison556]

I had a suggestion put to me by the guy in the tile warehouse - seeing as I can't get bath seal long enough for whatever I decide to use, he suggested using a tile internal corner strip and making sure there was loads of silicone at the back of it to form a watertight seal.

Is this likely to work? According to him, that's what the trades use instead of actual bath seal if they're going to use any kind of seal

 

[Burnerman]

Quality silicone will give an excellent seal, so long as no great demands are made upon it.....by that I mean no huge gaps and no movement between the walls and the bath etc.
I tend to favour the masking tape method for applying the silicone.....with this, you can really press the silicone into the join and any excess remains on the tape. When the tape is removed, a nice smooth surface is left which is finished with the slightest pressure of a wet finger.
John

 

[Alison556]

Yeah, I'm with you with the masking tape - my pet hate is the guy that licks his finger to smooth the silicone - makes me want to puke. So unhygenic. I'll need to get in to see just how big a gap there is between the wall and the bath - this could well be the reason that we used bath seal in the first place - I can't actually remember now it was so long ago that I did the tiling.