Help - rescue our tiles and ceiling! (And me.)

[Gentleness]

First job we did on moving in here was redo the bathroom on a tight budget. We were FTB and clueless and to cut a long story short, it was a very stressful disaster - still upsets me to remember it nearly 2 years on. Now we have a leak from the seal round the bath which is now staining the lovely new ceiling on our newly extended kitchen.

We know where the water is getting through: the bath was installed broken, removed and a new one put in, but the tiles had already been put in cut to the original bath and the gap is just a bit too big for silicon to do the job. The grouting is pretty rubbish too. I've tried that sealing strip. I've tried patching up with more and more silicon. I've tried shouting at it sternly. And still my ceiling is getting those lovely brown stains. It is as if that first blunder is chasing us round - bad enough to have to look at the other bathroom mistakes every day!

The ideal is to take ALL the tiles off (not done well at all grrr), replace the bath (steel one already chipped) and get it done properly. But we can't really justify that cost, and if we were doing that, we might as well get the whole lot redone to remedy all the other silly mistakes too.

So - we need a proper solution that will look ok for the next 2-3 years. Is it feasible to remove just the bottom row of tiles, replace them with something that might appear like a border, regrout and reseal? And is it feasible to me and dh to do this, with very little experience of proper DIY, a generally Heath Robinson attitude, a newborn and a toddler.

Or what else would you recommend to restore my sanity and ceiling.

[conculainey]

An option would be to remove the bottom row of tiles and chip the plaster away were the bath meets the wall over its full length, the bath should be fixed to the wall to prevent it moving and this might be what is causing your problem so chip the plaster way and slide the bath into the wall then make sure the bath is firmly fixed to the walL ( there should be brackets on the bath). Then seal around the bath/wall with silicon and once it has set replace the tiles and put another bead of silicon along the edge of the tiles were they meet the bath, this will give you a non flexible double seal.

[Gentleness]

Thanks for that. Sounds like many opportunities for us to mess it up further....

I'm not sure about chipping away plaster as the walls were newly plasterboarded when the previous bathroom was taken out. So maybe we can avoid that bit!

And no idea at all about the brackets fixing the bath to the wall! Would they definitely be there as I don't recall seeing any in the installation stage? I have little faith in anything having been done right in the bath installation though the plumber we hired to finish off the work was experienced and should have known his business.

[Gentleness]

bump

[kbaby]

We had a similar problem because our tiles were so thick and didn't meet the top of the bath properly meaning water run down the sides of the bath.

We bought tile grout to fill in the gap and then silicone sealed over that. It seems to have done the trick. My previous attempt at filling with as much sealent a possible failed

[conculainey]

Op, can you move you bath from the wall easily or is it firmly fixed to the wall?

[Gentleness]

Conculainy - thanks for your reply. It doesn't seem to have much give except downwards (and that might be my accumulation of post-baby weight)...

Would you go ahead and remove the tiles to see?

[confusedperson]

We had a bit similar issue.. Our bath was leaking because, apparently, our upstairs floor is bouncing and it makes the bath move. We have had the leak on and off for two years, even after completely renovating the bathroom (it's not leaking atm but I am sure it will come again).
I would recommend to remove the bottom line of tiles (that is if you can get replacement tiles), put it proper size and get it double siliconed. Another option is to get some flexible sealing strip (you can find them on internet) and it should prevent from leaking. Another thing is to make sure that the bath is properly supported, i.e. screwed to the wall with looong screws and supported with legs and a frame.
I heard somewhere you can also use some waterpool standard mastic which can seal walls and floors so that it doesn't let water leak through walls and floors at all.

[ATripperToTheLast]

I think it is a general plumbers tip to fill the bath with water once you have grouted, or maybe before??? and then when you know its set, you are ok to use the bath. Sorry for half arsed info!