Why a bath seal fails
Silicone sealant is the flexible rubbery strip along the joint where the bath or shower tray meets the tiled wall. It has to stretch, because a bath drops slightly when it is full of water and a person, then rises again when it empties. Over a few years the seal hardens, peels away at the ends or splits along its length.
Mould is the other reason people get in touch. Silicone in a steamy bathroom picks up black spots that soak into it rather than sitting on top. Bleach may lighten it for a week, but the stain comes back. Once it is inside the silicone, the only real fix is to take it out and start again.
Bath resealing in Fulham flats and houses
In Fulham, a failed seal is often more than a cosmetic problem. Many Victorian and Edwardian terraces here have been split into flats, so a bathroom often sits right over someone else's ceiling. Water that slips behind a bath can soak the floor for months before a brown stain appears on the ceiling below, and by then the joists or the plasterboard may need work.
That is why we treat bath resealing in Fulham as a proper job and not a quick squirt over the old bead. Landlords with flats around Fulham Broadway and Sands End book it between tenants, and homeowners often add it to a regrouting visit so the whole bathroom looks fresh at once.
Jobs we cover
- Removing old and mouldy silicone
- Resealing baths
- Resealing shower trays and enclosures
- Sealing around basins and vanity units
- Sealing kitchen sinks and worktop joints
- Sealing along splashbacks
- Treating mould on joints before sealing
- Checking for loose trays and cracked grout
How we reseal a bath or shower
First, all the old silicone comes out. We cut it away with a sharp blade and remove the last thin film with a silicone remover, because new sealant will not stick properly to old residue. The joint is cleaned, any mould is treated, and the whole area is left to dry. Rushing this step is a common reason a new seal fails early.
With a bath, we fill it with water before sealing. That lowers the bath to the position it sits in when in use, so the new seal is not stretched the first time someone gets in. A sanitary grade silicone with a mould inhibitor is then run along the joint and tooled into a smooth, even bead. The water stays in the bath until the silicone has had time to skin over.
- Old silicone cut out and residue removed
- Joint cleaned, treated and dried
- Bath filled with water before sealing
- Sanitary silicone run and tooled smooth
Shower trays, enclosures and wet rooms
Shower trays move less than baths, but they take a direct soaking every day. As well as the joint between the tray and the wall, we check the seal along the bottom of the enclosure and the upright edges of the screen. A gap in either lets water run straight out onto the floor.
If the tray itself rocks when you stand on it, a new seal will not last. The tray needs bedding properly or the base fixing, and sometimes the waste needs looking at too. We will tell you if that is the case and put it right first rather than seal over the problem.
Kitchen sinks, basins and worktop edges
The same work applies around kitchen sinks, along the joint between worktop and splashback, and around bathroom basins. Water left to sit along a worktop edge can get into chipboard and make it swell, so a sound seal there is worth having.
We can reseal the whole flat in one visit, which suits tenants moving out, owners getting ready to sell and anyone in Chelsea or Putney who has been meaning to tackle it for a while.
When resealing is not enough
Sometimes the silicone is a symptom. If grout is cracked and crumbling, water gets behind the tiles regardless of the seal, so regrouting is needed as well. If the tiles near the bath are loose, or the wall behind feels soft, there may already be water damage to deal with first.
Leaks from taps, wastes and overflows are plumbing faults. If we spot one, we will point it out and quote to fix it before the new seal goes on.
Who this suits
- Flat owners with a neighbour below their bathroom
- Landlords getting a rental ready for new tenants
- Tenants asked to put the bathroom right before moving out
- Homeowners with black mould along the bath edge
- Anyone preparing a home for sale or viewings
Common questions
Can you put new silicone over the old seal?
We do not do that. New silicone does not bond well to old silicone, and any mould underneath stays trapped. The old seal is always cut out and the joint cleaned first.
Why fill the bath with water before sealing?
A full bath sits slightly lower than an empty one. Sealing it in that position means the silicone is not pulled apart the first time the bath is used, so it lasts longer.
How long before I can use the bath or shower?
Each sealant maker gives its own curing time on the tube. We tell you the time for the product we used, and it is worth sticking to it, because water on fresh silicone can spoil the finish.
How often should a bath be resealed?
There is no fixed timescale. Reseal when the silicone is peeling, split, gapping from the tile or stained with mould that will not clean off. Bathrooms with poor airflow tend to need it sooner.
My downstairs neighbour has a stain on their ceiling. Is it the bath seal?
It can be, but leaking wastes, overflows and pipes cause the same sign. We check the seal and the obvious joints. If it looks like a plumbing leak, we trace and fix that before any resealing.
Can you choose a colour to match my bathroom?
Yes. White and clear are the most common, but sanitary silicone also comes in shades such as grey and ivory to suit coloured grout or a period style suite.
Do you reseal kitchen sinks too?
Yes. Sinks, worktop joints and splashbacks can all be resealed on the same visit as the bathroom, which saves booking two separate jobs.