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I’m assuming grout should not be applied between the bottom of the lowest tile and the shower tray? Should silicone just be applied around this given the tray will flex when in use?
Thanks!
Grout as normal then silicone over the top of the grout
Not a tiler.
We had our bathroom done with one of those nice low profile trays. It leaked and I got bored of redoing the silicone so I bought some of this 5 years ago and it has been great since
https://www.teleseal.co.uk/teleseal.html
Just had our bathroom done and they tiled the whole area under the tray and the walls down to the floor and used silicone sealant against the side of the tray and the face of the tiles so didn't butt the tiles onto the top of the tray. There is only a very thin bead of silicone creating a fillet between the top of the tray and the tiles. At least if, in a few years, a leak does occur past the tiles and the tray then the whole area is fully tiled so not really an issue. The previous tray had been leaking a small amount for years...the area under the tray, which wasn't tiled was a mess...dry rot and everything. A right nightmare to sort out so glad it's all fully tiled under the tray now.
Yes you’re right, don’t grout between the tray and bottom tile, just good quality sanitary silicone sealant. Same with any vertical, corner joints.
With a bit of luck whoever fitted the tray siliconed any gaps between it and the wall before they tiled. This just makes doubly sure it’ll stay watertight. Then you’re right....no grout under bottom row, just silicone. Also spend a few £’s more to get a decent silicone. Definitely worth it.
I am a tiler. The correct method is to silicone between tray and wall before tiling, this gives a 2nd barrier to water ingress.
tile down to tray leaving a 2mm gap, then silicone, NEVER grout between tray and tile, silicone and no grout should also be applied to every vertical joint and between wall and floor tiling in a bathroom. Don’t silicone over grout does nothing except neaten things up.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/dow-785-bacteria-resistant-sanitary-silicone-white-310ml/58308
https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-smoothing-tools-straight-joints/92313
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DI4hfHM_Hg
<edit> I give up trying to embed youtube vids, maybe one day it will be easy to do here.
I always load the shower tray before applying the silicon, four 25kg bags of sand usually do the trick. Cheaper shower trays tend to flex when stood on and by loading it I’ve found it vastly reduces the chances of the silicon eventually leaking.
I bought a shower tray with a lip round it, fitted waterproof board inside the lip and then tiled. I siliconed the bottom joint, but if it leaks the water won't go anywhere.
Silicone needs to be about 5 or 6mm thick. This allows for expansion and contraction with heat fluctuation and resulting expansion and contraction of the materials the silicone is sealing, if it is thinner it can crack & spilt when the different substances expand and contract. Different materials expand and contract at different rates too and a minimum of 5/6mm bead will help the silicone cope with this.
Thanks everyone for the help!
That teleseal stuff up there looks good.
We've got an L-shaped seal on our bath (the section on the wall goes behind the tiles) and it was fitted really badly. The only way to get it to seal is using a ton of sealant and it's a really gobby, horrible mess.
That Teleseal stuff looks like it might solve my problems although I'll have to cut the current L-seal away where it sits against the bath.