Shower seal

[Doris]

I'm fitting a new shower and suspect the joint between shower tray and wall will someday leak. I've gone to great lengths to avoid this but I would welcome any comments. I'm using formica laminated wall panels, glued to the wall. I've bedded the tray in cement mortar as per the recommendations and ensured there is no movement. I'm bedding the wall panels with silicone. The day before fitting the panels I put a bead of silicone along the bottom edge of each panel. The idea is the rubbery silicone bead becomes compressed during fitting and stays that way. I will finish it off with another fillet of silicone bridging the small gap between tray and panel. I dont believe the sales stuff about "permanently flexibility". If the silicone seal is in tension, as it would be after shrinking during curing, the adhesion between panel and tray is doomed from the start. I'f it fails I'll ....

 

[AnonymousImport]

I had a problem with a shower that leaked. This was because the shower tray had not been properly fixed to the floor, and was a poor quality tray that would flex when you stood on it. This would flex the joint between the tray and the tiles. This then caused the grouting to leak, and water got into the plasterboard background, an then the tiles fell off and the plasterboard disintegrated. This was in a property ONE year old!. I got the builders to replace this but five years later the problem recurred.

I replaced the shower tray with a ceramic one on a reinforced floor, and replaced the tile background with green grade flooring chipboard to half the height of the shower. I then inserted polyurethane foam between the tray and the walls, which when set prevents any movement, and is waterproof. I then tiled over this allowing a 6mm gap at the bottom which I filled with silicone seal. After three and a half years of daily use by three adults, two teenagers and one child (seperately of course!) I have not had any trouble with leaks at all!

 

[Doris]

Thanks for the reply. If my current plan fails I will try the polyurethene foam.

 

[AnonymousImport]

similiar problem , i used plenty of silkon and painted over them with gloss paint. greta no problem since then , just re do it every 2 years