Your thoughts on splitting silicone...

[Rich]

Hello everybody, I would be very grateful for your thoughts on this one as I am completely stumped.

Did a bathroom a little while ago for a customer, she didnt like the idea of silicone but after much discussion came round to the idea that there wasnt much choice in the matter. Finished up and everybody was happy. Then last week we got a phone call from her saying that the silicone has split along the top of the bath and between the shower tray and tiles, we went to look and she was right, the silicone cad come away from the bath and shower tray. This was obviously worrying but I thought that it could have been a few things. We cut out the silicone and removed the residue with a silicone eater and applied a thicker bead.

Have just had a call from her again, the silicone has come away again! I am at a loss as I have never had this happen before and needless to say I have done one or two in my time.

All joints were left clear of grout, hoovered out, wiped down with meths, siliconed with a suitable silicone and smoothed with a Fugi kit.
The room has not been used yet.

Any thoughts peeps?

[GirlRacerRed]

could it be the silicone reacting with the meths? was it the same brand silicone you used as last time?

[Mike]

i was going to suggest too much movement in bath or shower tray but it's not been used yet.

[Rich]

It was the same brand, I didnt use meths when I re did the silicone for that reason.

[ROBSON MCGREGOR]

I have saw this on silicone before but i have never came across a solution to it, hope someone can help.

Keep us posted rich if you find a solution.

[Sir Ramic]

How thick is the bead of silicone ? What make is it ? is there any movement in the bath and tray.

Now seeing as it is happening in 2 places I would suggest it would be a silicone issue.

[GirlRacerRed]

what are the tiles? could there be some kind of wax coating on them?

[Rich]

Ceramic tiles and Ultra silicone. There doesnt seem to be any movement in the bath or tray. I used an 8mm tool (Fugi) but all the internal angles were siliconed and none have come away, only on the bath and shower tray.

A proper head scratcher..

[Rich]

I have saw this on silicone before but i have never came across a solution to it, hope someone can help.

Keep us posted rich if you find a solution.

Have you had it happen? I have never come across it before. The only split silicone I have seen is due to silicone on top of grout or tiles coming loose.

[Sir Ramic]

Has it split or come away from one of both surfaces ?
Never used Ultra so cant comment.

[ROBSON MCGREGOR]

Rich, i have seen it happen on jobs when the mastick man has been in.

It has happened to us on one job, we went back & cut it out & re-siliconed, the customer never phoned back so i assume that it held.

I had a new door fitted about 6 months ago & its happened on that but i put that down to a bit of residue on the UPVC.
Iv still to get round to sort it but its 1 of them "get it tomorrow" jobs in your own house.

[doug boardley]

I use Ultra silicon and I've never encountered this.

[Dave]

Try another brand and see if it still persists.

[Rich]

Neale - It has bonded to the tile but not the bath or shower tray

Doug - I have used Ultra loads of times and have never had any problems with it either, up til now

Dave - That is what Im going to do, not really sure what else I can do.


It is not very often that I cant answer these things or find out. There is nothing worse than your work going wrong and you dont know why. Couldn't be for a worse customer as well as she argued about the silicone before we even did it. I think thats what they call sods law

[Dave]

Just a thought... you sure the customer isn't slicing it with a blade , so you do something else as she didn't want it in the first place

[andy allen]

yeh sabotage.....get mrs marples in..

[Rich]

Just a thought... you sure the customer isn't slicing it with a blade , so you do something else as she didn't want it in the first place

That had occurred to me to be honest but the silicone doesnt look messed about with at all, just come away.

[whitebeam]

Do you use any water/fairy liquid when tooling off..

[slikt]

I have doen lots of silicone work in my time and I have only had probs when using meths before hand, especially as the guys I use who install stone worktops, use it all the time to clean up silicone residue, meths is always good to when installing under mount sinks to quartz and granite to 'clean' the area to silicone, but not sure about on a non-porus surface (just my tupence worth)

[slikt]

. . . also was gonna ask if you had filled the bath whilst the silicone was curing, but the shower tray has the same issue 'confused.com'

[jay]

Take it its not taking to the bath or shower surface but is fine with the tiles

[judge]

There could be a contaminent in the actual production of the bath and tray.Are they the same make??

[Rich]

Mark - No, I dont use any liquid

Jay - yeah, its bonded fine to the tiles but not the bath or tray

Slikt - Do you mean that you have had a similar thing when the area has been cleaned down with meths?

[Rich]

There could be a contaminent in the actual production of the bath and tray.Are they the same make??

This is what i was wondering, I dont know. I am going to have a word with the plumber tomorrow and find out if they are in anyway different to the norm. It just seems really odd that every joint in the room (there are a lot) is fine but the tray and bath joints have not taken... Strange.

[Rich]

Oh and thanks for the spell check Dave

[Dave]

Oh and thanks for the spell check Dave

...........

[slikt]

Slikt - Do you mean that you have had a similar thing when the area has been cleaned down with meths?

Once or twice, not sure if it was the make of Meths, or the silicone, too expensive to experiment with to find out. I try to always use Acetoxy silicone, never had issues with using this

[user123]

There could be a contaminent in the actual production of the bath and tray.Are they the same make??

This is what i was wondering, I dont know. I am going to have a word with the plumber tomorrow and find out if they are in anyway different to the norm. It just seems really odd that every joint in the room (there are a lot) is fine but the tray and bath joints have not taken... Strange.

Hmm. love questions like this... the other obvious repellent (there is a better word for it I can't think of right now, something beginning with 'r', but anyhow, to silicone is oil. Plastics are petroleum oil products...with I would assume with varying degrees of oil content? Are bath and tray plastic, Rich?

[jay]

So the silicone's debonding from the white goods .at a guess the customer has cleaned them with something witch has left a coating on the surface causing your silicone to fail as mentioned above acetone or a solvent on a clean rag will be needed ,make sure that you run a dry rag over all areas you use the solvent before re trying the silicone

[paul flight]

are the bath and shower against stud walls???