Shower walls

Hmm, spare a thought for us southerners or I'll start responding in dialect, my ansum.

No chance of anyone using our shower as it’s dismantled with the bits and curtain stored in our loft.

Tinwheeler wrote:

rgermain wrote:

Tinwheeler wrote:Our shower curtain covers the door and wall opposite the toilet. The shower itself is mounted in the corner above and to one side of the toilet so there's no way the toilet can be kept dry.

Looking at the way the sealant is breaking away between the toilet bench and walls, I don’t have much faith in the waterproofing. 

I was surprised to find there is no plastic shower liner as fitted to the coachbuilts. We don’t use the shower so it won’t be a problem for us.

We have the same problem with the sealant breaking away, it has been resealed three times, once by myself using sikaflex left over from when I stuck the S/P on the roof and second time by dealer, then last month when they removed the toilet as we were getting water on the floor outside the shower area. Alas it still comes away!

Van going back next week for repair to wall panel which the dealer damaged when they removed the toilet. So will ask again if any sealant is ever going to stick.
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Richard

Our feeling is that nothing on earth will make a good permanent seal because the wooden walls flex as the van bumps over potholes and the plastic bench probably flexes as well. 

I’ll be interested to hear if your dealer has a solution though.

Will do, van in next Tuesday.
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Richard

Good luck!

Pnefan

Sort out your wet room before it drives you barkhuizen mad and you have a hughes problem. (try and fit Nchema into it!!). Have a good weekend in the City of Bristol  and I hope that the brown hill does not come back to haunt you.   End of this nonsense!!

Jetty,
I give in we are running out of names.  P.S. football is never nonsense. In the words of one of North End's old players Bill Shankly   Quote. 
 Some people think Football is a matter of life and death. I dont take that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that."
 Which just goes to show you have to be mad to watch PNE.....

rgermain wrote:We have the same problem with the sealant breaking away, it has been resealed three times, once by myself using sikaflex left over from when I stuck the S/P on the roof and second time by dealer, then last month when they removed the toilet as we were getting water on the floor outside the shower area. Alas it still comes away!

Van going back next week for repair to wall panel which the dealer damaged when they removed the toilet. So will ask again if any sealant is ever going to stick.
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Richard

Mmm, a thought as crossed my mind as to the sealant breaking away. Could it be due to the flexing of the shower tray as you stand on it that pulls the surround away from the wall? If so then no amount of sealant repair will prevent the problem reoccurring. Likely fault being the tray on one side is not resting on the floor surface directly beneath IMO. Recall there's been mention before on this particular problem of a gap occurring along one side. Anyway as previously mentioned, expect good outcome with the repair at Dolphin and advise us accordingly. Regards.

Paramedic wrote:

rgermain wrote:We have the same problem with the sealant breaking away, it has been resealed three times, once by myself using sikaflex left over from when I stuck the S/P on the roof and second time by dealer, then last month when they removed the toilet as we were getting water on the floor outside the shower area. Alas it still comes away!

Van going back next week for repair to wall panel which the dealer damaged when they removed the toilet. So will ask again if any sealant is ever going to stick.
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Richard

Mmm, a thought as crossed my mind as to the sealant breaking away. Could it be due to the flexing of the shower tray as you stand on it that pulls the surround away from the wall? If so then no amount of sealant repair will prevent the problem reoccurring. Likely fault being the tray on one side is not resting on the floor surface directly beneath IMO. Recall there's been mention before on this particular problem of a gap occurring along one side. Anyway as previously mentioned, expect good outcome with the repair at Dolphin and advise us accordingly. Regards.

Thanks for the advice. The sealant is actually where the bench toilet meets the shower wall on both sides, so it could be moving when we sit on it!

I am hoping as you say Dolphin can come up with a fix next week. Problem started with water getting under the toilet which has the shower tray underneath and then running out on the floor, Dolphin have sealed the bit between the tray and toilet to stop water getting in, but when I spoke to Mark at A/S he said "do not seal" as this lets any water out.

I am sure there must be a sealant that is resistant to flexing, how do they seal coach built joints which must flex a lot?

Really getting afraid to use the shower, like others have posted, put the bits in the loft, but then we bought the van for a shower.

Anyway will keep posted with result next Tuesday.
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Richard

Our Sussex is starting to come away in the same place. We had it resealed on purchase and it's just starting to separate again. Interested to know what sealant/adhesive Dolphin use.

Paulmold wrote:Our Sussex is starting to come away in the same place. We had it resealed on purchase and it's just starting to separate again. Interested to know what sealant/adhesive Dolphin use.

Yes it seems to be a common fault. They did reseal it at the 2nd year habitation check in February,  lasted about a month. I had already sealed it myself with sikaflex a year earlier and removed as much of the old seal as possible and squeezed as much as I could down the joint. I am not sure if water can seep down as it appears to be a hair line gap, if you see what I mean.

I will make a point of asking what they use this time and if they have seen this problem on other vans.
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Richard

I’ve resealed a fair number of shower enclosures professionally, albeit in homes rather than vans, and always use Dow Corning 785 silicon.  It’s a low modulus sealant, meaning that it’s designed to cope with a degree of flex, though whether that would extend to the movement experienced in a vehicle I can’t say.  It’s the best silicon I’ve used and worth the extra cost compared with cheaper brands.  For wet areas like showers use the bacteria resistant version, which will give longer life before the onset of black mildew.  When sealing around the edges of bench toilet housing leave an inch or so at the lowest points unsealed to allow any water that does penetrate to drain out into the shower tray.  Hopefully the bottom edges of the toilet bench are above the upstand of the tray to facilitate that.

Tim

Kemerton-bath wrote:I’ve resealed a fair number of shower enclosures professionally, albeit in homes rather than vans, and always use Dow Corning 785 silicon.  It’s a low modulus sealant, meaning that it’s designed to cope with a degree of flex, though whether that would extend to the movement experienced in a vehicle I can’t say.  It’s the best silicon I’ve used and worth the extra cost compared with cheaper brands.  For wet areas like showers use the bacteria resistant version, which will give longer life before the onset of black mildew.  When sealing around the edges of bench toilet housing leave an inch or so at the lowest points unsealed to allow any water that does penetrate to drain out into the shower tray.  Hopefully the bottom edges of the toilet bench are above the upstand of the tray to facilitate that.

Tim

Thanks Tim. I will bear you advice in mind and see what Dolphin say and do on Tuesday next. Good point about leaving an inch unsealed, that is one of my questions as Mark told me not to seal the panel below the front of the toilet as that is left open to allow any water that collects in the shower tray to drain out. Dolphin service manager said he did not agree and sealed it along its entire length, this stops water getting in, but in my mind and common sense would seem to also stop any draining out. Who is correct? A/S service dept who have wide knowledge or the dealer who has not met the problem before?

I can see myself following your advice and also removing the silicon they applied, after all it is my van.

Tuesday could be interesting, I am taking my wife along as backup.
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Richard

daisy mae wrote:In all my vans, I have put in an extra shower curtain to cover the toilet and exposed walls not covered by the curtain, this works well,

 in the Amethyst I have hooks near to the ceiling and the extra curtain just hooks on to these, easy to take off and store when not needed, this also keeps the sink and mirror dry, the shower can be reached in the corner and pulled in the gap between the two curtains, this way everything is kept dry and no drying off after having a shower,also towels can be left on the toilet seat, ready for use and kept dry.

In the Clubman I did put in an extra rail to take another curtain, bought from AS to match the original one.

I thought what jolly good idea. So being keen I asked A/S for a quote.

I had to sit down when I received it,

Curtain £73
Track + fittings £16
P&P £15
Then the Vat £20

I think you can guess what my wife said      "Aldi"

Thanks for the idea, will still do it, using hooks.
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Richard

Ive bought some spring loaded rods for hanging an extra shower curtain. They work a treat and are easy to take down when not needed. I've also got the smaller ones for in the lockers to hold items in tight so they dont move when traveling. Again they are spriing loaded so no need for drilling and they can be moved towards the back or front of the lockers depending upon how much is in the locker.