Strip seal around bath?

[Torflek]

I recently started to rent a new house and the bath/shower sealant leaks terribly. We had a 'builder' in who placed silicone sealant around the top and the bottom of the strip seal that is currently there. However unsurprisingly the sealant is not sticking to the base of the strip seal, and water is still percolating under the strip seal. I rubbed off his sealant (easily with my finger), and pryed up a little of the strip seal to see that the strip seal hides black gunge galore. I attempted to clear under the strip seal, and pumped in silicone sealant. I figure this is a temporary fix as theres little for the silicone to grip and it's in an odd flexible joint.

What is the best thing to do with the strip? As I am renting I really do not want to do too much work, and I defiently do not want to incur any cost (I have sealant and all tools already). I'm assuming the strip seal goes behind the tiling? If so is there any way of getting it out without removing the tiles? Is it possible to cut the strip seal back to the tiles with a sharp knife and then silcone seal into the corner as normal? Any advice / ideas on what I can do as the builder supplied by the letting agency seems completely inept.

Thanks for any help.
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[manchestertiling]

Sounds like the letting agency just did a cheap quick fix to hide the problem Torfleck. I would ask the letting agency to fix & make good as the strip will sit approx 1" up the underside of the tiles & can can only be removed with the bottom row of tiles.

If the letting agency refuse to do it then you could try & cut off with a sharp knife but be careful of marking the bath & tiles as the plastic is quite tough & the knife will jump on the grooves in the plastic. Once removed (if you want to go down this route), try & remove as much of the old sealant as possible, re-silicone the gap & fit one of the right angle waterproof strips direct to the bath & tile edges.

I personally would never use these when doing bathroom work as they're quite a cheap & ineffective solution to an underlying problem but as a temporary measure its certainly something you could try as an inexpensive cost to yourself.

Did you try & post an image?

[Torflek]

Sounds like the letting agency just did a cheap quick fix to hide the problem Torfleck. I would ask the letting agency to fix & make good as the strip will sit approx 1" up the underside of the tiles & can can only be removed with the bottom row of tiles.

If the letting agency refuse to do it then you could try & cut off with a sharp knife but be careful of marking the bath & tiles as the plastic is quite tough & the knife will jump on the grooves in the plastic. Once removed (if you want to go down this route), try & remove as much of the old sealant as possible, re-silicone the gap & fit one of the right angle waterproof strips direct to the bath & tile edges.

I personally would never use these when doing bathroom work as they're quite a cheap & ineffective solution to an underlying problem but as a temporary measure its certainly something you could try as an inexpensive cost to yourself.

Did you try & post an image?

Sorry about no image, I was going to then didn't, I have attached a file of the bath situation (I have no host to upload to, if someone wants to copy it into my mail via a server that would be great).

Right, the trouble is they used mosaic tiles on a slightly unlevel wall which makes it nearly impossible to use the strip or a covering strip. I would and have only used silicone sealant in the past for such jobs.

The letting agency seems to only use this guy (I rehung a door he hung with plastic plugs this morning (it sunk by 3mm till it wouldn't close!), with wood screws and dowelling). They also seem like they want to do the minimum amount of work. So I am figuring anything I fix is a bonus for them.

SO in your view if what I did last night doesn't work, I attempt to cut it out and see what happens, then seal it again.

[jozeffo]

Try drying it out with a hairdryer before applying more mastic. If yuo can bend the plastic to expose it more, then do so.

I prefer to use forever white as it doesn't go black like mastic of old.