Repairing a crack in a bath?

scratch

scratch

scratch

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,145
Location
Southampton
Howdy!

I stepped into the bath the other night to take a shower and heard a worrying cracking sound. It seems the plastic has become brittle over the years and a 2 inch long crack has appeared.

A new bath really isn't an option at the moment so can anyone recommend a way of sealing the hole up so that we don't have water leaking through the bottom of the bath?

Andy
 
I missed out the 'r' in the word 'crack'... :o

Polyfiller is the only thing i can think of? Unsure if that would even be suitable...surely a new bath isn't that expensive?
 
Silicon sealent, will do nicely. also use chocks of wood under the bath at various points to reduce the pressure on the plastic
 
The only problem with all these things is that nothing will make a perfect seal, and there is always the chance of water getting through.

The last thing you want is water underneath the bath, and then leaking into downstairs ceiling . . . . . . .

R

Mehul
 
Recently I put up a unit for my mum in the bathroom and I droped the hammer and cracked her bath oops, I used some araldite epoxy from b&q its waterproof and can take high temperatures, seems to have worked a treat.
 
Chaos said:
I used some araldite epoxy
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Epoxy resin in unsuitable for certain plastics, it also degrades with UV light. On a more sinister note some studies have linked it with pancreatic cancer and 'alteration of male reprodictive organs' :eek:

Epoxy is more of a bonder than a sealer but will work well in this case. I suggested silicone due to its ease of use, in that it requires no mixing or anything.

@ OP, are you sure the bath is plastic and not fibreglass?
 
Cybermyk said:
You don't have insurance?
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We do have insurance but the policy is only a month old and I don't really wanna make a claim so soon. I'm also not keen on making a claim for something which costs only a bit more than the excess on the policy.

I've got some silicone sealent somewhere although I think it's white, not clear. It'll look a little silly but if it does the job then who cares :) The main problem I can see is that the side panel of the bath is fixed in by wood. I'll have to try and work out how to dismantle it tomorrow.

Water leaking out of the bath isn't the huge problem it is for most people as our bathroom is downstairs.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Why is a new bath not an option?

Silicon will do a crap job, it's not a great sealant tbh. It's splashproof but doesn't do a great job of holding water.
 
I'd duct tape it up, until you can afford a new bath, and stick some blocks of wood under the bath to support your weight...I mean the bath too. ;)
 
I'll add an echo here and ask why is a new bath not an option? They are silly easy to fit and if you shop around even a semi-decent one should cost you no more than £100 to £150.

Some things are worth spending money on. Basic hygiene is one of them :p

If you really can't afford that I'd silicone it up and duct tape over it on both sides.
 
We rent our house from a friend and he's just had to cough up £1k to repair our leaking roof hence he has zero money at the moment. He's working out in Hungary and gets paid peanuts compared to our wages over here so it's tricky for him to find the funds when things go wrong.

Before people go telling me that he's the landlord and it's his responsibility to get things fixed when they go wrong, we pay £470/month rent on a 3 bedroomed house including all bills (and council tax) and an £80/month NTL TV/phone/broadband package, so we're quite willing to help by repairing things while he's trying to come up with the money! :)

Andy
 
Defcon5 said:
some studies have linked it with 'alteration of male reprodictive organs' :eek:
Click to expand...

in good or bad ways :eek:


PS i always seem to see skips with baths in :o just dont put it on your balcony and bury someone in it
 
can't you pick up a 2nd hand bath from the trade-it or similar, they go for next to nothing.


Otherwise pop down to your halfords and get a fibreglass repair kit, mesh sheets with a poxy resin. slap that over it, it'll be a lot better than any sealant. As said above once repaired find some scrap wood from a skip and chock the bottom of the bath to reduce pressure. 3 struts across the bottom should be more than enough.
 
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