Sealing a problematic bath

[jayc89]

10 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Yup. I've seen the tape systems, but if you are tiling then you either need these applied to the rear surface of the item that is to be sealed and then to offer that back to the wall ( or often walls ) which is a PITA. I've been fitting  bathrooms for over 25 years, prob a bit more tbh, and good old sealant and tanking wins every time for me.

A lot of stuff on YT is promotional / sponsored / non-impartial. I get quite fed up with some of the vid's, so rarely go on it tbh.

 

I do like one of the bathrooms they've done, it's a 2.5 hr video all said and done, and I did get fed up of the quite blatant sales pitches in segments of it. 

[jayc89]

Silicone is on. It's looking good at least. Will water test it in the morning. *Gulp* 

[ProDave]

10 hours ago, jayc89 said:

Ever seen any of the SkillBuilder videos on YouTube? They did a bathroom build and used some sort of tape to seal the bath to the tile backer board - looks like it was sponsored by Abacus Bathrooms as everything was their stuff. Probably not airtight tape, but it's the first time I've seen that done. 

The very sticky tape you use on the floor to wall joints when tanking a wet room would be a good candidate for that.

[jayc89]

Think I've sorted the leak. Emptied the bath for the second time and it started to spill its guts all over the floor.

 

Turns out the waste seal was also incorrectly fitted, so when the plugs just raised (one of those push type), to let the water slowly escape (as is the norm), it drains OK, however when I removed the plug entirely to empty it quickly and remove some loose bits of old silicone caught in it, it ran down the outside of the trap beneath the bath. 

Brand new PB ceiling below, FFS, I drilled a couple of holes in it to allow the water escape, I'd say I managed to collect a litre in a bowl.  

It never rains but it pours, literally! 

[ProDave]

18 minutes ago, jayc89 said:

Turns out the waste seal was also incorrectly fitted, so when the plugs just raised (one of those push type), to let the water slowly escape (as is the norm), it drains OK, however when I removed the plug entirely to empty it quickly and remove some loose bits of old silicone caught in it, it ran down the outside of the trap beneath the bath. 

Playing devils advocate, are you sure the leaking waste was not the problem all along and the bath to wall seal was okay?

[jayc89]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Playing devils advocate, are you sure the leaking waste was not the problem all along and the bath to wall seal was okay?

 

It did cross my mind. I don't think so as I had filled/emptied the bath countless times over the last week without noticing it (and I would have been laying in the pool!), and there was obvious water streaming down the back of the taps and into the far corner. 

[jayc89]

Oh and the far nuts on the 2x bath stands were loose (i.e half way down the rods), so as it was being filled up and people were getting in and out of it, there would have been some flex from that, potentially stretching the old silicone too. They've been tightened up. 

 

If I hadn't had already left a shitty review for the bathroom fitter, it would have been an even shittier one now. 

 

This whole debacle is a prime example of why I tend to DIY the majority of work these days.