Which silicone please? Bath side cover / floor

FlaatusGoat

Just trying to stop water running along the floor and under the side cover/panel of my bathtub enclosure. Floor is vinyl and catches quite a bit of water as people get in/out of said bath. Have tried some general clear silicone and it unfortunately hasn't lasted. So many different tubes out there, which one actually works though?

Emmia

That looks like a fairly wide gap to fill, so you'd need a thicker bead. Can you drop the panel so it's closer to the floor to reduce the gap a little?

In terms of a good sealant. I've recently had to reseal our shower and went for Dow 785+ anti mould silicone in Manhattan Grey (for the tile to tray bit) and clear (for the glass panels to tray bit). It went on a whole lot better than the cheaper generic stuff I'd used before (same application gun), but wasn't actually that much more expensive per tube.

Whether it will work on your gap which is wood to vinyl? I'm not sure.

Eldi_Dos

Getting a cork mat to stand on will cut down on the amount of water getting onto the vinyl,which can make it slippy also the cork mat would be warmer to stand on in cold weather.

As for gap between floor and panel some wooden or plastic beading could cover up the space.

Kerreh

Another recommendation for Dow 785+ (I used Bacteria-Resistant Sanitary Silicone White 310ml which was just under a tenner a tube from screwfix) - best one I've used to date.

ThisIsWeird

Remove all existing silicone smears from the surfaces. Ideally you should remove all the actual main silicone there too, but your new bead will be a lot larger, so tempting not to bother!

Make sure the two surfaces are 100% clean and dry, and run a good bead along there, making sure it touches both surfaces. Then Fugi it right away (cheap versions also work well) using the required size of 45o bevel to give a nice overlap that'll catch the bath panel too. 

Don't worry if there are holidays - just add another (smaller this time) extra amount of sili, and Fugi again.

When you Fugi, do it with confidence - grab the blade firmly, hold at right angles to the surfaces, press it gently into place so the two blade edges make good contact, and pull it steadily along. If you find you haven't added enough sili in one or two spaces, stop Fugiing by gently releasing pressure on it, and lift it away. Add more sili on the missed parts, wipe the Fugi clean, go back to before the missed bit and gently position the Fugi - but don't press into place yet. Now start the steady forward movement, and apply the pressure at the same time - the Fugi should touch-down gently on the formed bead without leaving a mark, and you can continue to do the missed part.

Just keep going like this.

It's equally easy to add too much sili, and that means you'll need to lift the Fugi and keep cleaning it. So try a 6" length of sili bead first for size.

Tackle with confidence, tho' - don't hang around, or it may start to skin.

It should give you a lovely neat finish that'll bridge that gap solidly, and be sealed really well against both surfaces.

What colour sili would be best there, I wonder? Dark brown? Or good ol' white?

Emmia

ThisIsWeird said:

What colour sili would be best there, I wonder? Dark brown? Or good ol' white?

I'd say that clear can be more forgiving when you're a bit out of practice... 

It's cheating (a bit) but I'll confess to using masking tape with the grey silicone to get a neater finish when fugi'ing, as it's pretty obvious if it's a bit wobbly! I just don't do it enough to go 100% freehand. 

FlaatusGoat

Attempt number 2. In the end I tried the Soudal Sanitary Silicone, the last one I used that failed was by Rapide (whoever they are) Soudal are a decent brand though so fingers crossed it lasts this time. Looks OK!

Had enough to do under the skirting behind the WC....so any misses shalt not pass under the skirting!