Sealing bath on mosaic tiles

[allyb]

Hi everyone,
We have had an ongoing problem with the sealant around our new bath and, while I know this has been raised in other topics, I was wondering if anyone thinks mosaic tiles could be at fault.

Basically we had our entire bathroom refitted with mosaic wall tiles (each tile made up of 15x15 squares). Everything has been grouted etc but, after the workers fitted the bath with a standard flexible seal, water was seeping through and the seal was coming away from the wall and tub.

They replaced it with a larger flexible seal but, after a couple of days, that started to come away from the wall too. They then tried a solid plastic seal which seemed to do the job at first but, as before, it started to peel away and water was getting through.

Everytime the workers came back out we were told our mosaic tiles were to blame as the seal didn't have a wholly solid wall to stick too. However, we have our doubts as mosaic tiles aren't that uncommon and we had to ask for them to weight the bath while fitting the first two sealants. We also had to ask for further props under the bath as it was clearly moving when we stood in it, despite claims it was 'rock solid'.

I've read on forums that the Teleseal system is a good bet but I don't want to be spending more if the problem is likely to be the tiles and I need something else.

Sorry for the longwinded explanation but if anyone has any advice that would be fantastic.
Thanks in advance and all the best.

 

[electronicsuk]

A bead of sealant should have been run between the bath and the wall before pushing it right the way into place. This gives a much larger area of contact than trying to seal it afterwards with a small bead.

What's more, if the bath isn't 100% secure than you're always going to have problems with leaks, as over time the seal between the bath and wall is going to break.

 

[TicklyT]

If the bath moves when you use it, then it sounds like your installers have made a poor job of installing the tub. Any detectable movement is too much movement!

Changing the seal won't compensate for poor installation. The flexing of the sealant is only supposed to take up the slight movement due to thermal expansion etc. It's not designed to help support a bath full of water!

IMO wooden floors usually need reinforcing with 4X2s or similar under the bath legs to spread the loading over as many joists as possible. Fitting a heavy batten screwed to the wall under the bath lip adds support and allows the tub to be fixed to the wall with cleats. The feet should be adjused so they all take their fair share of the load. Then you should arrive at the situation where the tub can't move, no matter how it is loaded.

 

[electronicsuk]

If the bath moves when you use it, then it sounds like your installers have made a poor job of installing the tub. Any detectable movement is too much movement!

OP never mentioned for sure that the bath moves, but I thought I'd mention it as a possible explanation for the problem.

 

[allyb]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your comments and advice so far.
The bath does have the additional support of two sets of wooden props which, were put in during installation but one of them seemed to have shifted. However, after I pointed that out another prop was wedged in and both seem pretty immovable. The legs are also now solid and well-fitted, although, one was loose. This was fixed at the same time they fitted the new wooden prop.

I have been concerned, as mentioned, that the bath wasn't properly sealed when fitted to the wall. The description which you gave Electronics is almost word-for-word what I was told would happen when they fit the bath. I was also told that the sealant strip is only an additional safeguard as the bead of seal between the wall and bath would do the job. Would it be fair to say then that after the slight problems with the leg and prop, and the fact water was still streaming through, this bead could already have broken?

Sorry again for going on but I'm not a plumber and was taking the builder's word for it that it was all fitted properly and that the mosaic tiles were mainly to blame.

Thanks again for everyone's advice so far.

 

[electronicsuk]

The description which you gave Electronics is almost word-for-word what I was told would happen when they fit the bath. I was also told that the sealant strip is only an additional safeguard as the bead of seal between the wall and bath would do the job. Would it be fair to say then that after the slight problems with the leg and prop, and the fact water was still streaming through, this bead could already have broken?

It's possible, or it may not ever have been done in the first place. Without removing the sealing strip to be able to see what's behind it, you'll never really know!