"Oscar_Lives" wrote in message
news:3vNxd.298210$R05.238879@attbi_s53...

"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.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Unfortunately you all have told me the last
thing I wanted to hear though....

There is no way to get under it without cutting a hole in my living room
ceiling. The opposite wall is another bathroom, with that bathroom's tub
sitting right there in the way, so that's not an option either.

Here's a dumb question: is *any* deflection acceptable for a second-floor
bathtub? I plan on selling this house in two years and the last thing I want
to do/can afford to do right now is to have to rip out an entire bathroom,
which is what this will take if I'm to take out the tub.

At this point I'm thinking about filling the tub with water and trying to
caulk it again and see if the filled tub trick will work.