Silicone won't stick to acrylic bath Drainage and wastage systems and plumbing help, advice and answers

[dinkydunc]

Hello all. I recently had my bath panel off to do some work and noticed that some water was leaking through the silicone around my bath. I stripped the old silicone out and put new stuff in but along the length, quite a lot of the silicone would not stick to the bath although it stuck to the tiles fine. So I stripped that out and did it again. Same thing has happened again. Any ideas?

[alavapint]

Sounds as though you are trying to apply new silicone over old. Silicone wont stick to silicone very well.
Both the surfaces need to be really clean, and silicone free.
Get some silicone eater, read the instructions before applying it. If the old silicone has been completely removed, their should'nt really be a problem.
Good Luck..!

[dinkydunc]

I hear you on that, but the silicone was leaking even before I replaced it. It was the first ever silicone I'd put on and it was only a year ago. I think the issue might be that I have a shower over the bath and water 'pools' in the joins. Any ideas? Bath trim possibly?

[welsh brickie]

you need a low modulus silicone with high adhesion.

[alavapint]

If you have water pooling, are you sure you had put enough on in the first place ?
Ideally you need an even beed of silicone that touches both the tile and the bath, without highs or lows ... easier said than done.
When I get asked to do this job which is fairly often, I cut out all the old silicone I can with a stanley knife.

Then I apply silicone eater and remove what is left.

With the whole area clean I then fill the area with more silicone than I need .. and use one of these to finish the job ... 'a Fugi tool' .. I use it for every silicone job I do, and always get asked ''How did you do it so neatly' ? '' ... " Years of practice "... I say.
Little do they know.
Have a look at the video and you will realise it's not that difficult to do it properly .. it may turn you into a pro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p0Yl-IyMJc