As some of you may know, the ceiling is down in my garage as I’m renovating it.

I think it’s lucky that now is the time the bath starts leaking. At least I can see it before it does too much damage.

I think both the grout and sealant have let me down.

There has to be a better way, or did the previous owners just do a shoddy job?

Stone coloured grout as well so I’ll have fun trying to colour match. Tempted to use some clear silicone over the vertical internal grout when it’s dried.

Good quality waterproof grout, not premixed, get the powdered stuff

There has to be a better way, or did the previous owners just do a shoddy job?

without more info, my money is on this.

(seal the bath against the wall, tile down to the bath, and seal that too)

(seal the bath against the wall, tile down to the bath, and seal that too)

This. The top seal has gone on our shower & I need to re-do it, but no leaks underneath at all.

My bath leaked because the sealant had been applied without any weight in it – I re-sealed it with the bath full of water and the problem was solved.

– I re-sealed it with the bath full of water and the problem was solved.

Do this with Dow Corning sealant.

Also check your plug waste is done up tight still.

1. Make sure the bath doesn’t move.
2. Clean every trace of old silicone from the tiles and the bath.
3. Weight bath down with water.
4. Apply a good beed of good quality bathroom sealant (Unibond or Dow Corning, I like to use the the anti mold stuff). Don’t use bargin bin general purpose silicone.
5. If you can’t get a neat bead with a finger (like me) finish off with a Fugi to tidy it up.
6. Wait 24 hours then empty the bath.

I was told don’t go too nuts with filling the bath, as when empty it can cause the silicon to be pushed up and unstick it (but it’ll still look good)

A tip I was given to keep grout looking good was to ‘polish’ the wall with car wax once or twice a year, sealing it against the water/soap/etc. Never bothered trying it and the grout has now discoloured in places…

Never bothered trying it and the grout has now discoloured in places…

I make up some very dilute bleach in a spray bottle, and leave it overnight. Works a treat.

It is a bit late if you’ve fitted one but you can get shower trays with a lip that goes up behind the shower tray. Not a stick on thing but actually moulded in to the tray shape.

If you have a problem with the tile/shoer (or bath) join the only thing I found worked was a product called teleseal. Basically an external edging that allows movement and flex.

I’ve use all sorts of sealant and most fail in the same way. Adhesion to one of both surfaces. The constant wetting and flexing is very harsh.

grout has now discoloured in places.

HG Mould spray stuff.

The HG stuff, or just bleach on a brush, wipe it on after the last person uses it in the morning and leave it overnight. Repeat for a couple of days until it’s clean enough.

It’s definitely the tile/bath interface that’s leaking. We ran the taps into the bath, nothing. Showerhead into bath, nothing. Showerhead to wall, pissing down the back.

It’s a P shaped bath so I guess it’s going to be tricky to stop any movement.

Next question, how on earth do you monitor it rather than waiting for the plasterboard below to go soggy?

Hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

A bath or shower tray with a tiling upstand is the best way then tanked over wall substrate and down over tiling upstand.
If you have no way of stopping water behind tile from returning to the bath then its going to find its way where it shouldnt.
You can retrofit a stick on upstand if you have your first course of tile off, however if you’re just trying to solve the bath to tile interface as it is, consider removing any grout along the bath to first course line, remove all traces of silicon manually then if your gap is large enough to warrant a foam backer rod first then get that in before your silicone application.
Vertical wall joints can also be weak if the structure was half arsed. Silicon here also or color matched siliconised caulk.

If its p*ssing down the back, youll want to get it nice and dry before you silicon!
Lastly, any deflection of the bath to wall edges when you press on them should be addressed or any repair will be temporary at best.

If it were my house and i had the opportunity, id probably inject a good dose of low expanding foam under the bath just for heat retention. Bath full of water first. Never done it but its amazing how much water temp gets lost
Make sure you insulate and vapor barrier before that garage ceiling gets replaced.

The void will be getting insulated. The plan was for fire resistant plaster board in there. The garage isn’t heated but does house the boiler and will be getting an insulated garage door. Does it really need a vapour barrier? If so, what exactly and where in the sandwich of materials?

There’s going to be holes in the sealing for lights and power and there’s holes in the floor above for cables pipes and drains.

Vapor barrier typically on the warm side of insulation.
As far as needing it, refer to your local building code. However, don’t think that 5/8″ drywall and insulation will stop the permeation of moisture/vapor/gasses. This means that if you run a car with the garage door closed, store paint/chemicals etc in your garage then theres the potential for these fumes to enter your living space.

Worst smell in my garage is gt85. I don’t mind the smell of that in the bathroom. No engines in there, just pedal cycles.