The process
Photograph, price, strip out, seal, and one day of leaving it alone
On the day
From the first message to a finished joint
Send a photograph
One picture of the worst joint answers more than a paragraph of description. It shows how many layers are on it, whether it is silicone or caulk, and whether the problem is the joint or something behind it.
Get a price, not an estimate
Back comes a figure off the published card, £95 for a bath or a shower, £185 for a whole bathroom, and the next free slot. If the photograph shows something that will take longer, you are told then rather than on the day.
The room gets covered
On the day the floor is sheeted and the bath or tray is protected before a blade comes out. Old silicone comes off in long dirty ribbons and it goes everywhere if nobody has thought about it.
The old joint comes out
Every layer. Blade flat on glazed tile and glass, plastic tools on acrylic and stone resin so nothing is scored. Where a bath has been sealed several times this is most of the visit.
Residue off, surfaces dried
The invisible film left behind comes off with a silicone remover rather than a scraper, both faces are solvent wiped, and the joint is dried. This is the step that decides whether the new bead lasts.
Mask, seal, tool, pull the tape
Both sides taped, the bead run in one pass, tooled to a clean concave finish, and the tape pulled while the silicone is still wet. Tape pulled after it skins takes the edge with it.
Leave it for a day
Touch dry within the hour, and safe to use after twenty four. That is the only instruction you are given, and it is the one that does most to decide how long the joint lasts, because a bead that gets wet before it has cured never reaches the strength it was going to have.
The report
What is handed over
A joint that was bare before it was sealed
Photographed at that stage if you want it, which is the only moment you can actually see that the old material is gone rather than covered.
Before and after photographs
Taken as a matter of course and emailed over. On letting work they may be what settles a checkout question months later.
A note of anything that is not sealant
A bath that moves, a tray with no support, a leaking waste, failed grout, a perished shower door seal or a room with a ventilation problem. What it is, whether it matters, and what usually fixes it.
The drying time, in writing
Said out loud and left on a card in the room, because in a rented property the person who booked it is often not the person who will run the first bath.
One visit, one drying day
Nothing is taken away and nothing has to come back. The room is out of use for the rest of the day and normal the following morning, which is why a whole bathroom is booked as one visit rather than three.
Weather and rules
Worth knowing before booking
The room has to be dry to start
A shower used an hour before we arrive is a joint that cannot be sealed that morning. Where possible, keep the bath or shower out of use from the night before. If that is not practical, say so and the visit can be timed round it.
Twenty four hours afterwards
Basin and toilet are usable within the hour. The bath and the shower want a full day, which is the figure on the tube we use; where a product states something different, that figure is the one that counts and you are told it on the day. If it is the only bathroom in the house, book a morning slot so the curing happens overnight.
This is sealing, not tiling or plumbing
Failed grout, a leaking waste, an unsupported bath and a perished shower door seal all look like sealant problems and none of them are. Where that is the cause you get told, and Hembury Contracting can price the actual repair.
Access and parking
Somebody to let us in, and parking within carrying distance of the door, because the kit comes in and out of a van. In a rented property access is arranged with the tenant directly, with notice.
Before you book
Common questions
How long does a reseal take?
A single bath or shower is around an hour on site, most of which is taking the old joint out. A whole bathroom is an afternoon. What takes longer is the curing: the room needs to stay dry for the rest of the day, and a bath or shower wants a full twenty four hours before it is used.
Can you not just seal over the old sealant?
No. Silicone does not bond to cured silicone, so a new bead is only as well attached as the layer under it, and any mould in the old joint is inside the material rather than on it. Sealing over both problems hides them for a few months. It is the single most common reason a bath has been sealed three times.
Will the black mould come back?
Not from the new joint, because the old material and everything living in it is removed rather than covered. What decides the next few years is the room. A bathroom with no working extractor and a window that never opens holds humidity, and mould will return to the grout and the ceiling as well as the joint. If that is what we find, you get told.
How much is it?
A bath or a shower is £95 including VAT, both together are £150, and a whole bathroom is £185. A kitchen worktop run is £95 on its own or £35 added to a bathroom booking. The silicone is in the price and there is no call out charge.
Do I need to be there?
Somebody needs to let us in, and it helps to be there at the end so you can look at the work before it is settled. The middle of the job does not need an audience. In a rented property access is arranged with the tenant directly.
White or clear silicone?
White on most baths and showers, because it reads as part of the sanitaryware and hides a slightly uneven tile edge. Clear on dark tiles, stone and most kitchen worktops, where a white line draws attention to itself. It is your choice, and it costs the same.
Do you cover my area?
Exeter and roughly twenty miles round it, which takes in the city districts, the estuary towns, the East and Mid Devon market towns and the Teign valley. The areas page lists everywhere covered. Just outside it, ask, and you will get a straight answer rather than a maybe.
Who turns up?
Sam Hembury or one of the Hembury Contracting team. Exeter Silicone Services is a service line of Hembury Contracting, an Exeter business, sole trader, VAT registered and insured for work in your home.
Get a price
Book a reseal with Exeter Silicone Services
Send a photograph of the joint and say which fittings need doing. Back comes the price off the published card and the next free slot. Ringing is quicker if you want a date fixed today.
- Bath or shower
- £95
- Both on one visit
- £150
- Whole bathroom
- £185
VAT and silicone included. Minimum charge £95.