Sealing Bath - Leak

loopyloouk

Hi all,

we have a shower over the bath, whenever we have a shower it comes through the ceiling below (never when we or the kids have a bath). I have tried to remove the sealant and fitted a sealant strip from B&Q but the water still seems to be coming in.

Do you think i need to get this professionally sealed (who do i get?) or could it be something else?

Thanks

Loopy

Crinkmeister

If you remove the bath panel, can you see where the water is coming through?

loopyloouk

unfortunately the bath is tiled in, no bath panel.

do you think i should get the tiles removed?

thanks

Ebe_Scrooge

First off I'd forget the sealant strip, I've never found them to be much good. Clean all traces of old sealant off, wipe with meths, and reseal with some decent silicone. Not a difficult job, there's any number of videos on youtube if you've never done it before. Half-fill the bath with water before you start, otherwise the first time you fill the bath it'll pull away from the sealant.

If that doesn't work, it's possible the grout between the tiles is letting water through. If so, it wants scraping out and re-grouting with a decent waterproof grout - again, perfectly DIY-able.

googler

Put the plug in the bath and fill it. Leave it for a while.
Is anything leaking to below?
If so, the waste fitting in the bath is faulty.

If not, allow the bath to drain away.
Is anything leaking to below?
If so, the waste pipework below the bath is faulty.

(Edit - re-read OP, you seem to have eliminated these)

Take the shower head, place it below the level of the sealant, and run the shower (on cold) for a while.
Is anything leaking to below?
If so, your leak is coming from the shower pipework.

If none of the above, it seems fairly likely it's your sealant around the bath that's faulty. Repair as per Scrooge's guidelines.

Crinkmeister

The other favourite spot is the gasket under the bath taps which gets covered in water from a shower but stays dry when you use the bath.

loopyloouk

Thank you so much for your replies... lots of food for thought.

I am a total DIY novice so the thought of sealing it is very scary! i did do the bath strip but that took some doing. I will watch the you tube videos now,

how do i replace or repair the bath gasket??

thanks in advance

Ebe_Scrooge

If it helps, here is my version of how to apply silicone sealant.

First, remove every trace of old sealant. Use a very sharp chisel to gently scrape it off - most of it will peel off quite nicely once you get it started. You need to use hardly any pressure, just take it slowly and be careful not to scratch anything. Any last bits can be scraped off with a fingernail. Then clean the whole area with meths ( not white spirit ). You want to make sure the whole thing is totally clean and dry.

Half fill the bath with water.

Now run a strip of masking tape above and below the line where the sealant's going to go, leaving a neat parallel gap.

Apply the sealant in a continuous bead. An ordinary tube and sealant gun is far easier than the "all-in-one" tubes that don't need a gun, they don't cost much. Use proper silicone sealant, with mould inhibitor, don't bother with the "silicone-free" versions. I've never had much luck with them.

Now get a cup full of water with a splosh of washing up liquid in it. Dip your finger in the water, then run your finger over the sealant to give a nice smooth finish. Wipe any excess off using kitchen towel. Don't let it dry on your finger, it's flipping 'orrible stuff to try and get off !

Now carefully remove the masking tape, you should be left with a nice neat job. Leave it overnight to cure properly, then empty the water out of the bath. Job done.

It's not difficult to achieve a good finish, preparation is the key. And once you've got the knack, it's easy to replace the sealant in bathrooms, kitchens, whatever, whenever it cracks or gets discoloured.

Dan-Dan

Excellent advice there Ebe and Googler

southcoastrgi

good advice from Ebe, although I'd fully fill the bath

andyhop

Screwfix do a set of tools for silicone tooling. Work a treat

You can also use lolly pop sticks to tool

Use a cheaply water spray with a 50/50 mix of water/fairy liquid

Decent silicone will stick, the likes of Dow 785 or Mapei Mapesil will not come off by scratching your nail against it . Will need a Stanley blade and silicone remover to get the residue off. If you don't remove it fully you might as well not bother as fresh silicone won't stick to cured