Leak With Sealant not Adhering Around Bath Drainage and wastage systems and plumbing help, advice and answers

[zen8019]

Hi

Issue and situation....

1) Sealant around bath not adhering - lasted about 6 months before coming away from tiles (many efforts to fix but just not adhering - sealants all failed except 798 White Silicone Sealant - which lasted about 6 months ).

2) Corner rolled top bath with cast iron legs

3) Travertine tiles (wall and floor)

4) Water from sealant leak above then goes into kitchen below due to holes in floor used to secure cast iron bath legs - difficult to fix as legs pretty inaccessible.

What to do?

1) Keep on with sealant and hope for the best (I'm sure the issue is the travertine tile as they are porous and so don't make good seal)

2) Pull bath out (risk of tile damage [travertine]) and completely redo - fix hole(s) in floor and make good/better bath into wall and reseal

3) Options 3???

If option 2 - should I do myself (its not rocket science ??) or get bathroom fitter etc. to do - any advice on estimated time to do and cost would be good

Thanks

[lindrickman]

I've only just joined, so you may have sorted the problem by now. However, there are 2 options:
1 Use the special product called sealant renew, which goes over the top of old sealant, but given your persistent problem I suspect it might not work too well.
2 Silicone doesn't adhere to old silicone, so all traces need to be removed before resealing. I use a blunt wood chisel with a clean edge, stanley knife with flexible blade and penknife to remove visible sealant. Next, I apply sealant remover to rmove remaining traces. Scrape off remover and clean up with kitchen towel. It is now necessary to get rid of the remover or the new sealant will soften and crack. To do this I use meths applied with kitchen towel. This gets rid of most of it, but the stuff lurks in all the cracks, so lather meths on using a paint brush, scrubbing into the grooves. Allow the meths to evaporate and you should be good to go.
Hope this helps.