Hello everyone,

I live in London and moved into a new flat a few weeks back. In the corner shower in the bathroom I noticed there was a lot of black mold around the shower tray edging (yuk!), so decided to replace the caulking. It was a bit of a job removing the old caulking as there seemed so much of it! Once it was removed I found that the shower tray butted up nicley against the wall along one side but along the other side there was an ever widening gap between wall and side edge of tray which was almost 1cm at the furthest point (I hope you can visualise it?).

My question is how do I caulk around the gap?... should I just completely fill the gap with caulking (which is what it seems the previous owner did) , or is there another option?

I can't afford a tradesman so have to do the job myself. I would like to do the job properly, making sure the seal around the tray will be water tight and will also look clean and tidy.

Your advise here would be much appreciated!

Kind regards

Sharon

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should you be using silicone round a shower. Dont know much about sealents but chaulk never used to be waterproof

I bridged a wide gap between a shower tray and wall by using silicone to stick on some UPVC quadrant trim. I did it to help a friend out of trouble as a temporary fix and it is still there 10 years on without a leak.

Might be worth a try on your widest gap.

DWD

These things work well for after tile sealing
Homelux Bath Seal White (L)1.75m. I have one on my bath and it cleans up fine. Its the silicone that gets moldy.

I would use a touch of silicone first (to plug the gap, (don't build it up) and then run a layer of silcone along the shower tray and another along the tile, both about 1cm from inner edge. Press the bath seal up to the silicone . Remember to cut the seal first and to a dry run to ensure it fits and is a neat angle at the internal corner. You also want it tight to the shower screen to ais any water finding its way down behind the

Also
If your shower tray moves (probably not) you could get this Ultraseal

These Fugenboy Kit 1 BMFG1 are brilliant for getting a neat finish but if you are using the seal there is probably no need a kitchen knife would do

Make sure the surface area is clean first and clean off any access silicone before it dries as it can be a bugger to get off tiles afterwards!

Finally, you can get Unibond Bathroom & Kitchen Sealant shower in B&Q etc. but you need a gun for this. I have seen ones that don't require a gun in B&Q and also in sainsburys

I'd use a strip of Upvc quadrant or scotia of it looks better.

Sealant wise you can't do much better than this stuff:
http://www.tilefixdirect.com/product/DW785WH.html

Great to use and contains an anti-fungicidal ingredient.

the trick to sealing wide gaps is to run a bead down both edges so they almost touch then run a bead straight down the middle and wipe in very gently...
use low modulus silicon to fill out with first, its stickyer and wont leak, then top off with some fungicidal stuff, the high modge acetoxy fungicidal stuff tends to shrink a bit...

little tips you pick up when your window surveyor measures up by counting bricks at the roadside and knocking 20mm off..

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Title of the post is the answer. Caulk is a no-no. use shower sealant.

Mozzy

First of all thank you to all for your very helpful replies.

I think I will go for the upvc quandrant trim/homelux bath trim to seal the gap bewtween shower tray and tiled wall... the teleseal option is too expensive for me I'm afraid.

However, I've now noticed another problem, part of the grouting between two of the bottom tiles has just dropped off and now if I press on the tiles the move back and forth as though there is slight gap behind them.

So, does this mean that before I seal the shower tray, I should really take the two tiles off, apply more tile adhesive then fix them back on? (why can't things be simple!! )

Please let me know what I should do with the two loose tiles.

Thanks again

Sharon

Sharon

Appears as if the tiles have been put on by someone dabbing adhesive onto the tile and thus the air gap behind could be (but not definitely) be significant. It could be worth removing to have a gander, and then put the tile/s back on before sealing. That would be easy of course and all things being equal you may not be so lucky. The only way to know is have a look behind the tile.

if they are re-adhesible, be sure to let it cure properly before sealing and using.

Mozzy

Before trying to get any tiles off I'd check they are replaceable - if they crack while removing from the wall or removing old adhesive / grout then you'll be stuck!

If you do remove them, make sure you get all the old grout / adhesive off of the tile and wall or you will never get it back flat and flush with the wall.

If there is a risk they could crack then I'd personally remove all the loose grout and use something like no more nails, pushing as much adhesive through the gap as possible to fill the cavity. When this is cured, grout to finish (make sure no adhesive leaks out of the gap and gets where you need to grout)

...there are no spare tiles in the flat, and I'm not sure if I can safely take the tiles off without cracking them, so I think I will try your suggestion Beachcomber and try and squeeze some no more nails sealant into the gap between the tiles.

I have used no more nails once before, to help a friend put up a dado rail, and the suff did harden quite quickly so I guess I better make sure I don't get any on the tiles!!... I could use a match stick maybe to try and push the no nails sealant further inside the tile gap?

Thanks again.

S