Sealing a corner shower tray

[wilsonian]

For the past few weeks I've been spending a few hours each night after work repairing our en suite corner shower. What appeared to be a simple tile repair has uncovered the turn nature of the leak with blown plaster boards and rotten floor boards it's been an uphill struggle ever since.

One of the major culprits what the shower tray had been leaking which the previous owner had attempted to repair by applying as much silicone as humanly possible under and around the tray.

The time will soon be here for me to refit the tray and I have been struggling as to what I could use to seal the unit against the wall.

The tiles sit on top of the tray and a simple silicone bead may well do the job however I'm concerned about movement in the tray (each leg is supported by a joist).

Would something like the below be much good or just a waste of money?

http://www.showersealsdirect.co.uk/trims/sealux-reg-15-sealing-trims-15mm-wide-trims.html] Sealux 15

Any advice would be of assistance.

 

[kbdiy]

Normally a bead of sealant around the edge abutting the tiles would be sufficient assuming the tray is firm - absolutely no movement at all. Sometimes sealing the tray to the wall before tiling helps but the final seal is the key. Certainly has always worked for me anyway.

The sealing strip you mention would work best if you can tile down over it. You would need to make sure that the lip is firmly and effectively sealed to the tray otherwise capillary action could draw water back under the lip and recreate the same problem you are trying to cure.

You could try posting in the Plumbing forum to get other ideas.

 

[jctilingservices]

was the shower area tanked, is the leak deffo from tray to wall or could you have a hairline crack in tray, leaking from waste trap ?
personally i would rather seal with silicon than use those trims that sit behind the tiles

 

[wilsonian]

Thanks for the replies.

was the shower area tanked, is the leak deffo from tray to wall or could you have a hairline crack in tray, leaking from waste trap ?

The tray was installed on it's own feet but was only sealed with silicone around the edge. I believe over time the overall "cow-boy" installation of the entire area has caused leaks at one time or another. The pipes and waste trap showed no signs of leakage.

The sealing strip you mention would work best if you can tile down over it.

This shouldn't be a problem as we're re-tiling the whole area.

I'll keep you all posted how it goes.

 

[andytw]

Don't know how far you have gone, is the base still in ?

You could use this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjhkCs0M-Qw


andytw

 

[bolshy]

If the tray is out, you could also buy another leg set and try to get some more support under it. If your flooring has been weakened underneath the shower, replace it with some marine ply.

 

[Agile]

A recent thread recommended a neutral cure silicone and Dow Corning in particular.

I have a problem with silicone not sticking to the fibreglass tray and I am wondering if sealing for window frames would be worth trying as I have a tube of white neutral cure.

Tony

 

[wilsonian]

I've remove the tray while we re-tiled the area - I'm aiming to put this in by weekend. The floor boards were like balsa wood due to rot so the floor tiles have been removed, cleaned up and refitted with a sheet of rot treated plywood under them.

http://imgur.com/a/EmmKZ

The areas with red circles had signs of high amounts of silicone above and below the shower base. Once it was removed, the wood around these areas were rotten.

This has now been removed and new plaster boards (water proof ones from wickes), floor boards have been fitted. The pipes have been channelled into the wall before the plaster boards were added.

 

[mark23445]

The best solution would to be replace the tray with a new stone resin one which has a tiling upstand built onto the tray. You then chase the tray into the walls be a2-4mm and the tiles go over the top

Therefore if any of the seals ever fail, you have a secondary defense