consealed shower seal leak - remove plaseer fix and repair Ask your questions and find answers on many subjects relating to plastering and dry lining

[glennc]

Hi Apologies if this is in the wrong place and for it's length but wasn't sure where to post it.

The plastic seals on my concealed (behind tiles and plaster or Aqua board) Aqualiser en-suit shower mixer unit failed.

I have the replacements and have replaced the lower outlet blanking seal, as I was able to access it through the hole in the tiles/plaster or aqua board already there for the mixer.

The problem is the other (top) seal as this, of course, around the exit copper pipe feed for the showerhead outlet. This pipe is probably fixed to the actual wall behind and enters the en-suit through a hole in the plaster/aqua board/tiles at the top. (I have removed the showerhead and fitting that pushed on to this pipe.

The seal replacement is easy but I don't know the best way to remove the plaster / aqua board / tiles and then I'll have to repair them afterwards.

So my question is how would you remove the tiles/plasterboard to gain sufficient access to lift the exit pipe, swap the seal and then repair the hole(s) or section of the concealing plaster/aqua board? I was hoping to avoid having to completely dismantle the whole shower panels / assembly, fit a completely new board and then re-assemble / re-tile.

The tiles are 197mm wide and 248mm tall, the head is a bout 750mm from the mixer and the mixer and head are slightly off set to the left of the vertical tile join.

I was thinking that if I removed the 2 tiles from either side of this vertical line from the mixer to the outlet I could then cut the plaster/aqua board using an angle grinder with appropriate cutter in a narrower slit just wide enough to gain access to the length of copper pipe behind to loosen its holding brackets (assuming it has any) and lift it so that I can replace the seal.

Assuming this is a reasonable approach, once I have replaced the seal and the pipe I don't know how to repair the slit in the plaster board?

Perhaps, depending on how the plaster board section I cut out is, I could simply "Glue" it back (not sure how to do this poly filler / plaster?) and then re-tile however if the plaster I cut out is all broken then what?

Your assistance is much appreciated

Many thanks

[rosebery]

Can you not get at it from the other side? Yes you'll have to repair the other side of the wall and redecorate but you won't have compromised the watertight integrity of the shower area.

Cheers

[wws4029]

Is it not possible to disconnect at shower head and at mixer and replace completely with plastic pipe ( flexible ) and leave the old piece of copper pipe in there?

Alternatively, do as you described by cutting out ( which is going to be time consuming and most likely to break your tiles) Cut out vertical section from mixer to head. Keep the bit you cut out.

After fixing your seals/ pipe, cut some small thin pieces of timber about two inches longer than the width of your cut out. Insert into cut out and turn, screw these either side of cut out straight through. Do this every 6-9 inches all the way up. You now have a cut out with fixing points all the way up to re fix the bit you cut out.( will look like a ladder) Make sure you use drywall screws as they are treated not to rust.

Fill any gaps with a water proof sealer, re tile and grout ( suggest using waterproof stuff)

Its a long winded approach and time consuming but if ther is no other solution, this is your last option before replaceing the whole lot.

Hope this helps.

[rosebery]

"Its a long winded approach and time consuming but if ther is no other solution,"

Yes there is - attack the problem from the other side of the wall!!

Cheers

[wws4029]

[quote="rosebery"]
Yes there is - attack the problem from the other side of the wall!!

Cheers[/quote]

There is no access to the other side of the wall! Do you have any alternate solutions?