Seeing the “do you attempt projects out of your league” thread reminded me of the bathroom remodel I did a couple years ago. It involved completely gutting the bathroom and replacing the old, leaky neo-angle shower with a new leaky one.
I bought the cheapest one we could find (note to self, there’s a reason it was cheap), and installed it myself. I have caulked it a bunch of times with mildew-proof silicone caulk, and I still get mildew in some spots. Not only that, but the glass doors/walls have these little rubber seal things to hold the glass in, and there is mildew INSIDE those seal things. I took the whole assembly apart once to inject bleach in there and kill off all the mold, then I caulked the rubber seal things, and that seems to have stopped it in a lot of places.
But, it’s still a leaky neo-angle shower (As in, the floor gets wet outside the shower door).
So, how about those showers that don’t require cauling of the joints…do they really work? How mold and mildew-proof are they? Do you still have to caulk the glass door and walls?
Since there’s no clear-cut answer for this question (at least, not that I can see), I think this thread is better-suited for IMHO. I’ll move it there for ya’.
A no-caulk surround is great. As long as you caulk it anyway.
The only true no-caulk solutions would be tile, or a one piece seamless surround. The former is expensive, the latter often requires you knock out one side of the door jam in order to fit it in.
May I glom onto your thread? I have an acrylic shell-type shower stall which unfortunately is not one piece, but has a horizontal seam about 18 inches from the floor. There’s caulk in it, but this is where the mildew grows and water seeps along it to the outside where it deposits itself on the floor.
What would you guys suggest for this? Could I scrape out what’s in there and recaulk it? What product should I use to caulk? Or should I caulk on top of what is in there?
Always remove the old stuff completely-that’s the only way that new caulk will properly bond. Take the time to dry out the joint. Most of the time, water has gotten into the failed joint, and new caulk won’t stick to moisture. Wipe them out with paper towels, and then set up a fan to run overnight in the shower/tub. Cheap caulk is like cheap booze-it may look nice at first, but it will give you headaches. Pony up $5 a tube for the GE Silicone Kitchen and Bath or similar DAP product. Snip the end of the tube for a fine bead, and caulk while pushing, not pulling. If the joint isn’t filled, apply another fine bead over top and smooth again.
There are probably two very different things in that seem. First, there should be some waterproof adhesive, and on top of this silicone based calk. Remove the calk, but don’t dig into the adhesive. Hopefully it is still in fair shape. If not, you may have to repair this too.
To repair the adhesive, get a good waterproof adhesive and use a putty knife to force it into the seam. Wipe off the excess flush with the surface or slightly below. When the surround went in, someone probably used a tube of adhesive and a calk gun… but that stuff is too difficult to force into the seam. You need to find a tub of thicker stuff.
Now caulk. I’ve used GE Silicone II for this. Wear surgical gloves, have plenty of paper towels on hand, and just smooth the bead over with your finger.
