"mark" wrote in message
news:CNixd.962$sh5.584@trndny08...
I've owned this house for about 4 years now, and am 2 to 3 years away from
selling it (not due to this problem).

In the master bathroom there is a small, either plastic or fiberglass
tube. It appears to be one of those liners but I have no idea. It looks,
and feels cheap when you step into it (I don't take baths, just showers).
About 6 months after moving in I noticed the caulk around the seam between
the tub and the tiled walls was cracking and separating. I took out the
old caulk and recaulked the entire tub. A few month later, same thing.
Noticed that the right hand corner is where the flexing starts and is most
pronounced. Maybe 1/8th of an inch at the time. It's been about 3 or 4
times total that I've recaulked this tub now.

I just did a search on this and I wish I had come to the internet before -
as the trick is to fill the tub with water first before caulking. However
my concern now is not just slight flex, but major flexing. I'm worried
that the foundation that the tub sits on is not right, as now the crack
seems wider - about 1/4" at it's widest point (starting at the same spot -
right corner, next to the piping/valves).

My worry is that I need to rip this tub out and repair what is below it.
Is this true? If so, how? Obviously I'd have to break the rest of the
caulk seem, but then what? I can't afford to have a pro do this.

Perhaps I should just fill the tub with water and try re-caulking and see
if that holds? It's *possible* that the crack is just bigger because I've
let it go without recaulking for a while, which I regret because this is a
2nd floor bathroom and one morning I let water splash into that corner and
it leaked down into the ceiling. There is a slight, small water mark there
now.

Help!


Can you get to it from behind or underneath? Just throw a few shovels of
mortar under it for some support.