Exeter Silicone Services
Bath resealing
The old sealant round the bath stripped out completely, the joint cleaned back and dried, and a fresh sanitary bead run and tooled. £95 including VAT and silicone.
£95including VAT and the silicone. The full price card
A bath joint fails from underneath. Water gets behind the bead at one end, usually where the bath meets the wall at the tap end, and from then on the silicone is holding water against the tile rather than keeping it out. The black spotting people ring about is the last part of that, not the first.
Running a new bead over the top of an old one is the reason so many baths have been sealed three times and still leak. The new silicone bonds to the old silicone, the old silicone is still lifting off the tile, and the whole thing comes away in a sheet six months later. So the old joint comes out. All of it.
The price is £95 including VAT, which covers the strip out, the clean down, the silicone and the work. A basin or a screen can be added on the same visit for £25.
What is included
- Every layer of old sealant removed, not sealed over
- The tile edge and the bath lip scraped back and solvent wiped
- The joint dried out before anything is applied
- Sanitary grade silicone with a fungicide, white or clear
- Both sides masked, the bead tooled, the tape pulled while it is wet
- The wall joint, both ends and the panel edge where there is one
- Old silicone bagged and taken away, the room wiped down
Before and after
A bath joint at the tap end
Why the old bead has to come out
Silicone does not stick to silicone. It cures against it, which looks the same on the day and is not the same thing at all. A bead applied over a failing one has its adhesion limited by the layer underneath, so it lifts when that layer lifts.
There is a second problem underneath the first. Mould in a sealant joint grows inside the material, not on it, which is why bleach whitens it for a week or two and then it comes back. Sealing over a mouldy joint traps a living colony behind a clear layer, and it shows through within a few months.
Taking the old joint out completely is unglamorous work and it is most of the hour. It is also the whole difference between a reseal that lasts and a reseal that looks good until Christmas.
Baths that move
An acrylic bath flexes when it fills. That is normal, and a properly sized joint copes with it. What a joint cannot cope with is a bath that was never supported or levelled properly underneath, because then it is not flexing by a millimetre, it is dropping.
The tell is a joint that has failed in the same place twice in two years, usually along the long wall rather than at the ends. If that is what is happening, you get told, because a third bead will fail the same way and taking your money for it would be a waste of your afternoon and mine.
The fix is usually packing or bracing the bath rather than sealing it, which is Hembury Contracting work and can be quoted on the same visit.
Filling the bath before sealing
There is a trade habit of filling the bath with water before running the bead, so the joint is sealed at its widest and the silicone is in compression rather than tension when the bath empties. It is done where the bath is plastic and the gap is tight.
It is not automatic. On a well supported bath with a small gap it makes little difference, and it costs the job a couple of hours of waiting. You get asked which you want on the day, with a straight explanation of what it buys.
On the day
How a bath resealing runs
Sheet the floor
Floor covered and the bath itself protected before a blade comes out. Old silicone comes off in long dirty ribbons and it goes everywhere if nobody has thought about it.
Strip the joint out
Every layer, with a blade along the tile and a plastic tool on the acrylic so the bath is not scored. Where the bath has been sealed several times this is most of the job.
Clean and dry
Residue taken off with a silicone remover, both surfaces solvent wiped, and the joint left to dry. Silicone will not bond to a damp edge or a greasy one, and this is the step that gets skipped.
Mask, seal and tool
Tape both sides, run the bead in one pass, tool it to a clean concave finish, then pull the tape while the silicone is still wet. Tape pulled after it skins takes the edge with it.
Leave it alone
The bath stays dry for the rest of the day. It is touch dry in under an hour and it wants a full day before a bath is run in it, which is the one thing worth waiting for.
Behind the work
Kit, cover and qualifications
The work is done by Sam Hembury and the crew he trains, trading as Hembury Contracting out of Exeter. One entity, one VAT registration, one invoice.
Read what people say about Hembury Contracting
- Hembury Contracting
- Exeter Silicone Services is a service line of Hembury Contracting, Sam Hembury's Exeter business. Same trading entity, same invoices, same VAT registration.
- Public liability cover
- Insured for work in your home and in occupied rented property. A copy of the certificate goes over by email if you want to see it before booking.
- Published prices
- The price card is on the site rather than behind a form, VAT included and silicone included. You can work out what your job costs before you get in touch.
- The old joint comes out
- Every layer, plus the residue film underneath it, before anything new goes on. That is the part that takes the time and it is the part that decides how long the new bead lasts.
Bath resealing
Bath resealing questions
How long before I can use the bath?
Touch dry inside an hour, and safe to use after a full day. Sanitary silicone cures from the outside in and a bead of normal size wants around twenty four hours before it is holding water. Running a bath the same evening is the usual reason a new joint fails early.
Can you just seal over the old one?
No, and this is the one thing worth being firm about. Silicone does not bond to cured silicone, and any mould in the old joint is inside the material rather than on the surface. Sealing over it traps both problems behind a clean looking line for a few months.
White or clear?
White on almost every bath, because it reads as part of the sanitaryware and hides a slightly uneven tile edge. Clear on a dark tile or a stone surround, where a white line draws attention to itself. It is your choice and it costs the same either way.
The bath has been sealed four times. Is that a problem?
Only for the time it takes. Four layers is a lot of stripping out, so it may run into the £60 an hour that applies after the first hour. Send a photograph of the joint first and you get told before it is booked rather than on the day.
Where
Bath resealing across Exeter and Devon
- Exeter
- Heavitree
- St Thomas
- Pinhoe
- Alphington
- Ide
- Topsham
- Exmouth
- Budleigh Salterton
- Sidmouth
- Dawlish
- Teignmouth
Also on this site
The rest of what gets resealed
£95inc VATShower resealingTray, base, internal corners and the foot of the screen or enclosure resealed properly, with the old joint taken right out. £95 including VAT and silicone.
£95inc VATKitchen sealant and worktop sealingWorktop to wall joints, upstands, splashbacks and the run round an inset sink, sealed with the old line taken out first. £95 on its own.
£95inc VATSilicone removal and replacementThe full strip out: mouldy, lifting or badly applied sealant taken out completely, the joint cleaned back to bare surfaces, and a new bead run properly.
£185inc VATWhole bathroom resealingBath, shower, basin, screen and every tiled splashback run stripped and resealed on one visit. £185 including VAT and silicone.
Window and door sealingPerimeter joints round window and door frames, inside and out, where the sealant has gone hard, cracked or pulled away from the frame.
Sealant repairs for landlords and agentsBooked with the tenant, photographed before and after, invoiced to the agent or the landlord. Fixed prices per bathroom so a job can be approved without a site visit.
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.