Decorators' Caulk used as silicone round bath?

AquaJen

Silicone sealant is horrible! It stinks, if you get it on your hands/clothes it won't come off and you have to be very good at it to get a good finish. The Caulk is easy to work with, washes off and is cheap. That is why the cowboys don't like using silicone.
You will always know if the plumber is using the right sealant due to the smell, it is a bit like a strong glue. I hate the stuff, but we use it as its is the only thing that works and is water proof.

budgetdiyer

mart.vader wrote: »

Yes, there is a benefit. Decorators Caulk is much cheaper than silicone sealant.

I suppose it depends how you define much? At the budget end of both products your talking little more than £1 difference.

melb wrote:

i would willingly pay someone to apply the sealant as i have done previously BUT it seems difficult to find someone to do it. It is not an easy job as the bath is sort of wedged into the far end of the bathroom so you have to get in it to do the job.

I imagine to seal most baths you have to get in it to apply the sealant, i always fill the bath with water to add weight whilst it is setting, otherwise the first time you fill the bath or stand in it the seal will likely break.

PS. If the 'sealant' they used dried hard i doubt it was decorators caulk, that normally stays a little flexible, it sounds like they may have use an acrylic sealant of some sort.

Oli.s

heretohelp wrote: »

I bought some silicone from a pound shop once when i used it it looked and felt like caulk he might have did the same.

It's more likely to be acrylic sealant than caulk, it has a similar texture.

It's easy to pick up the wrong tube if you don't read the labels properly and it is used as a sealant between fixed surfaces and it water resistant, the problem is that it doesn't set like silicone so if there's movement it splits then leaks as you have found. It's not great for baths and showers.

Robj241

When using silicone, the best way to keep it neat and tidy is to wipe it with baby wipes, they also get the stuff off your hands. Also a bit of good old 'Spit' works!!!!

Jonesya

AquaJen wrote: »

Silicone sealant is horrible! It stinks...
You will always know if the plumber is using the right sealant due to the smell, it is a bit like a strong glue.

That's not strictly true, it depends on the silicone, the acetoxy cure silicone stinks but neutral cure silicone hardy smells at all.

andyhop

Dow Corning 785 or mapei mapesil ....only 2 I would ever use

Tooled with a soap soloution and not spit......dirty bast****

melb

thanks for all your replies. Muckybutt are you a bathroom fitter?

mart.vader

budgetdiyer wrote: »

I suppose it depends how you define much? At the budget end of both products your talking little more than £1 difference.

Decorators caulk £1.25 per tube : http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-decorator-s-caulk-white-310ml/57568 - "A water-based, single component, flexible instant acrylic filler for sealing and filling gaps and cracks. Ideal for use around skirting boards, ceilings and architraves."

White Silicone £2.99 per tube : http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-gp-silicone-white-310ml/74018 - "Quick-curing, acetoxy Silicone for a permanent watertight, flexible seal. Good adhesion properties, suitable for sealing glass, aluminium, painted surfaces, sanitarywear, ceramics and non-porous surfaces."

Note that one is water-based and the other is watertight. That should explain why caulk will leak and silicone shouldn't.

briclegg

you could put quadrant small tiles at joint of bath and wall so the tiles sit on the bath and if fixed with tile adhesive should be waterproof

melb

yes someone suggested that and it sounds feasible. ~The problem is that the distance between the monobloc taps we have and the wall is less than 50 mm so it is difficult to seal behind there, never mind get a thin enough tile. and if we started tiling up to the monobloc and then using something else behind it we would have 2 joints which would be weak points.