Leaking shower screen - remove this silicone?

[Mander]

Newly fitted shower screen leaks like crazy. I've read in several places that there should not be any silicone on the inside, but the fitter ran a bead on the inside bottom part of the seal. Could this be part of my leaking issue? Should I remove it?

Water is going down the wall on the outside edge of the screen and I'm not sure that this is the only problem, but I'm wondering if it's one of them.

 

[robinbanks]

Newly fitted

So the installer made an ass job of it? Any reason why you're not asking them back to fix?

If you're determined to DIY, show a video of the leak occurring?

 

[Mander]

It's been an ongoing problem and his response was that the only thing I could do is put a ton of silicone on it. So I'm not sure that I entirely trust him to fix it at this point.

Also it doesn't happen with every shower so I think it's maybe just luck that the water hits it in just the right way?

 

[robinbanks]

Mmm..

So to answer your question, no I don't think the silicone at the base of the vertical bar is going to be a significant cause of a leak. Looking around your pic, it seems the silver bar is not mounted against a flat surface but there is a general lack of info to give specific pointers, hence why I asked for a video of the leak occurring

 

[Mander]

The tiles are bevelled so it's not really a flat surface. But he did run a bead of silicone before mounting it.

There seems to be a small gap in the silicone on the outside which I am hoping is the real issue. Pretty easy to fix that.

 

[Madrab]

No .... Putting silicone on the inside won't cause it to leak. it just means that any water that may get inside the frame can't leech back out and into the bath/shower.

See the big gap between the bottom fitted seal on the glass and the hinged frame , that'll where a fair bit of water will be running out from. I always run a ridge of silicone out into that gap now or stick a little bit of edging into it, to make up that space.

 

[Mander]

It's definitely not just that gap. The floor under that and the surface of the bath outside the screen will be dry while the wall in the corner has water running down. I stuffed a towel in the gap to check that.

 

[magicmushroom666]

This gap looks like its been designed to be clear to let any water back into the bath that gets into the hinge etc?

 

[robinbanks]

Are you going to post a video of the leak in action?

 

[Madrab]

Oooo ... having a closer look at the pic closer then yup, the gap @ the tile/bath edge could be an issue. Water heading down into the huge gap (That I totally missed @ first look ) at the back of internal wall channel and tile, running down inside and then out around the back of the outside of channel at the tile/bath threshold. Not the best choice of tile shape for a bath shower/screen I'm afraid. Ideally that tile gap would have been filled with something waterproof at the point where the channel sits before it went on to give a level surface to seal onto. Silicone may be the only option now.

Oh and BTW the screen would usually be screwed on the inside of the channel and the silicone on the outside of the channel should be all the way down to the bath and around that bottom curve and as suggested a little extended to catch the glass seal, not the best installer maybe, to leave it all like that?

 

[OvertonPlumber]

Not that it matters but the screws have been fitted to the wrong side of the profile.
On that bath screen the wall profile should be sealed against the tile on the inside vertically and on the outside vertically a small bead should run on the bottom up to the seal as well.

 

[robinbanks]

Tell me.. when water pours into this gap:

where does it come out?

 

[Madrab]

Tell me.. when water pours into this gap:

where does it come out?

Right there maybe

 

[amfisted]

I had a similar issue which I was never able to totally cure, no matter how much silicone I lashed into the various gaps. So I bought one of those short, fixed splash screens to attach to the wall, and backed it up with a shower curtain.

 

[Mander]

Yeah I didn't really think about bevelled tiles + shower screen when I ordered everything, alas. One of many mistakes I made with this project.

Tell me.. when water pours into this gap:

View attachment 310960

where does it come out?

I'm not sure that it does pour out the other side because there's already silicone between the tiles and the screen. It's just difficult to see.

Sounds like maybe the whole thing was not installed correctly? In any case I filled in the gap on the outside with silicone yesterday. I also added some more on the underside of the bath where it meets the wall. I haven't tested it yet as I want to give it plenty of time to cure.

Although looking at it now I did not do a very good job of it in the corner.

This gap looks like its been designed to be clear to let any water back into the bath that gets into the hinge etc?


View attachment 310918

That was my original question. I think maybe it is supposed to be clear?