Leaking Bath Need Help

[cookerz]

Hey Guys,

I'm having an some trouble with a fibreglass bathtub,
it has been corked [mastic] many times, but after a few weeks the water starts coming through where the mastic joins the bathtub and wall and leaking downstairs.

The leak mainly starts from where the two walls meet [but around the frame of the bathtub]

I have also put up some images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47147186@N03/

I think it might be cause the bathtub moves [the fibreglass bathtub is quite thin]
Does anyone know of some way of creatively / cost effectively fix the problem?

Any advice would be appreciated.

C

 

[Axel]

Firstly, it is important that the legs under the bath are all present, correctly adjusted and that the floor on which they stand is rigid, strong and stable.

When fitting bathtubs I put a wooden baton along the walls at the inside side and end, for stability, and put a wooden lip on this to hook onto the lip on the edge of the bathtub.

It is common practice to fill the bath half full when applying silicon sealant to seal the edges, to average the slight movement caused by weight changes.

If all that is good, then you need to properly remove the old mastic and put a good, thick bead of good quality silicon (785) onto the edge. This should cope with normal slight movements, unless the floor is knackered.

 

[TicklyT]

I agree wih Axel - any detectable movement of the tub is too much movement!

You could add a couple of timbers, Say 4X2s or thereabouts, under the bath feet to spread the load over as many joists as possible if there's any doubts about the rigidity of the floor under the tub.

Where possible, I would put a few screws through the batten fixed to the wall into the timber rail under the lip of the tub.

Some additional framing behind the bath panel on the free sides can sometimes help too.