Wingedcat wrote:
Haymish Pupkin wrote:
Hi

I'm sealing a shower cubicle tray for the third time in as many
years. Last time I used silicone sealer all around the tray and
placed a right angled shower sealing strip (from focus diy) all
around the tray above the silicone for good measure...

SNIP LEAK TALE

Thanks

Haymish

It sounds like the shower tray is moving slightly in use which is
causing the silicone to come away from the tray/tiles. This is most
likely your underlying problem, and explains why you have had to redo
the seal once a year for 3 years. What you want to do (instead of
messing about with putty, plumber's mait, sealing strips etc) is to
get the shower tray absolutely rock solid, which may mean taking it
out and reinforcing the base.

Also get the shower tray as close as possible to the tiles against
which the seal will be made. The idea is to have the smallest possible
gap to seal.

Then get everything scrupulously clean, and apply the best silicone
seal you can find (Unibond "35 year" (!) type works for me...).

I won't go into the rights and wrongs of silicone sealer application
technique as this has been covered many times before!

Thanks Wingedcat

The last time I sealed the shower tray it was rock solid, the silicone
sealer would not have been really cheap stuff but I wouldn't have used top
of the range stuff either. I can see where it has shrunk / hardened and
split from the tray. I will try to use just silicone again but the best
stuff. It just upsets me to have to pay £10+ for something that would cost
50p to make.

The back of the tray is the main bit that is leaking, this is also where the
biggest gap is. It's about an inch away from the wall at it's widest. What
would be the best way to fill that gap prior to using the silicone? As I
said, I could fill it with plumbers mate putty but would the silicone stick
to this then or would I only need to the silicone sto stick to the wall and
the side of the tray? Or should I stick a piece of wood there or a strip of
tiles?

Once I have done it, I don't want to have to do it again for a good long
while.

Thanks

Pete