Which Sealant For Protecting Joints In The Bathroom Is Best Suited And Protects Against Mold And Blackness

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

Types of polymer sealants for the bathroom
Bath sealant, which is better?
How to apply a bath sealant?
A cheaper way to protect your bathroom
Removing the sealant from the bath surface
How to prevent mold and mildew in the bathroom
Curb tape sealing technology
Sealing water pipes in the bathroom

It is impossible to dispute the fact that there is always high humidity in the bathroom, since this is due to the specifics of this room. Warm and humid environments create favorable conditions for the growth of microorganisms, which contribute to the destruction of building materials and lead to the formation of mold. Even good ventilation in the bathroom is not capable of blocking all pathways for the growth of microbes, only careful isolation of all seams and joints with a sealant containing substances that destroy these microorganisms will allow you to close this problem.

Types of polymer sealants for the bathroom

A good silicone sealant is not afraid of temperature changes - from 50 to + 200 degrees Celsius. Good adhesion to most materials, neutral to UFO and has a long service life up to 40 years.

Acidic silicone sealant cannot be used with metals, neutral can be used, but its cost is more expensive.

Acrylic - can be resistant to moisture and non-moisture resistant, the seam of this sealant is not elastic enough. Undoubtedly, moisture resistant is more suitable for the bathroom, it finally hardens in a day, just like silicone is not afraid of temperature and UV.

The best sealant for the bathroom is silicone-acrylic, aquarium it is as elastic and durable as the polymers from which it is made. Moreover, as a silicone adhesive-sealant, it finds application in gluing surfaces and is unmatched in terms of durability and elasticity.

Polyurethane - good adhesion to materials, the seam made of it is elastic and durable, not afraid of mechanical stress. It lends itself well to painting, the drying time of the sealant is 8 hours at a layer thickness of 1 mm.

Bath sealant, which is better?

According to customer reviews, sealants with fungicidal inclusions are more suitable for the bathroom, which prevent mold and resist moisture and temperature extremes well. Learn more about choosing a good bath sealant.

It should be borne in mind that even a special silicone sealant, with very frequent contact with water, begins to turn black after about a year.

Solution to the problem. We cut out the old composition with a knife and fill it with a new one.

Basic requirements for bathroom sealants:

Mold Resistant:
Pasty non-spreading consistency;
High adhesion to various materials.

It is quite simple not to be mistaken with the choice. To do this, you should buy the products of some eminent brand, a company with a serious reputation, or rely on good consumer reviews

Protection of all joining surfaces in the bathroom room gives us a guarantee against water leakage on the floor and inside the walls, and will protect the neighbors from below from flooding.

But, of course, it is better to use grout or install a border.

Small seams in the bathroom, up to 0.5 cm wide, provided that the surfaces are firmly fixed and located around the perimeter, it is recommended to close up with a joint - tiled grout. You can pre-mix the grout with paint that matches the color of the facing. The waterproof grout used for grouting tiles in swimming pools is best suited as a material for protecting all existing joint surfaces in the bath. To prevent rust from spoiling the color of the fugue, the joint is additionally treated with a special shiny compound. When the bottom in the bathroom is tiled, the same grout must also be used to seal it.

Bathroom gaps are best for sealing with water resistant silicone / acrylic sealant. This acrylic bathtub sealant can seal crevices up to one and a half centimeters wide.

The packaging for it can be a tube or cartridge, the color is chosen according to your taste, for the cartridge you will need a special gun. The sealants for the pistol are much better than those in the tube.

How to apply a bath sealant?

To apply the sealant end-to-end on the bathtub, try to follow these instructions:

We clean the bath from dirt and dampness, then dry it and the walls around it.
We degrease the joints to be sealed.
We glue masking tape to define the seam boundaries and make it even.
We cut off the tip of the cartridge or tube at a certain angle, which will determine the width of the seam.
By squeezing the pistol grip or pressing on the tube, apply an even seam with uniform movements along the junction of the bathroom with the walls.
To align the seam, dipping your finger into the soapy water, we pass it along the docking joints.

In the event that the distance is large enough, up to 3 cm, it is sealed with ceramic skirting boards. There are three ways to do this:

buy special ceramic curbs and use them as skirting boards;
if you still have the material that was used to cover the bathroom walls, then this will be the best option for ceramic tiles;
the most time-consuming way is to cut the desired pattern out of the tile with your own hands.

It is recommended first, if the gap is large, to seal the joint with polyurethane foam. Then you can, having made a cement-sand mortar, lay the tiles, trying to maintain an angle of 45 degrees. It will be even better if you manage to lay out the joints of the walls and floor in the bathroom in the same way.

A cheaper way to protect your bathroom

There is a cheaper way to protect the bathroom - using plastic baseboards or plastic corners with rubber edges, they must be planted on glue "liquid nails". The property of elasticity of the plastic material makes it possible to differentiate the shifts of the base of the bath, which are possible during its movement. Pre-treat all joints with silicone, then close with corners. In case the corners move away, the waterproof sealant will block the further path of water.

You can use self-adhesive tape to protect the seam in the bathroom. The tape is available in different widths, but it must be glued following the recommendations, otherwise it will not last long. To avoid this, you must use glue "liquid nails" or silicone sealant.

If this work needs to be done in a bathtub with wooden floors, then you can use a special wood sealant. It performs optimally compensating actions due to its high inherent expansion coefficient.

Removing the sealant from the bath surface

Before working to protect the bathroom, sometimes you have to remove the old sealant or clean the bath from new, but already dried silicone. Use a sharp scraper and brush to remove the sealant from the bath. Having picked up the slope of the scraper, cut off the old sealant with sharp and quick movements of the hand, and sweep away the removed pieces of silicone with a brush.

You can clean the sealant from the bath with white spirit, but there is a danger of damaging the product, and if it was painted, then the paint will be removed along with the silicone.

Foam-840 is another substance used to remove sealant from the bathtub. With this composition, the silicone is completely destroyed and does not damage the product. In the event that a film remains on the product, it is recommended to remove it with acetic acid.

How to prevent mold and mildew in the bathroom

The first step when detecting small damp spots is to treat them with hydrogen peroxide or table vinegar. When you find a fungus on the sealant in the bathroom to get rid of this scourge, you need to:

ventilate the room by opening the windows completely and it is desirable to have "swing" windows made of plastic;
do not close the bathroom, leave a gap in order to equalize the humidity and temperature;
treat contaminated surfaces with a special agent up to concrete or brickwork.

When you see mold on the sealant in the bathroom, you can use folk remedies:

Treat the place with creosote or a solution of ten liters of water with one kilogram of copper sulfate, or 1.5 kg of sodium fluoride, also a solution consisting of half a kilogram of copper sulfate and two liters of acetic acid per ten liters of water.

Curb tape sealing technology

Bathroom sealing tape is available in different widths and colors. When choosing a tape border, it must be taken into account that its width should be at least 10 mm greater than the width of the slot. It is better not to save money and install a larger strip.

The seal is glued using the following technology:

Surface preparation: cleaning, degreasing and drying.

Cutting the tape into three strips with an overlap of 1.5 cm on the side elements.

Bending the border along the length along the notches.

Press the self-adhesive tape to the joint.

Sealing water pipes in the bathroom

When sealing the bath itself, one must not forget about the work to eliminate leaks in the water supply and sewage pipes that are located in this room. In this case, special silicone sealants are used for sewer pipes of two types - acidic and neutral. The latter are suitable for all surfaces and aqueous media, the former are not suitable for interaction with acids. Silicone sealant is used not only for sealing plastic pipes, but also perfectly proved itself in cast iron sewer pipes.

In bathrooms, sanitary sealants are used, which have high adhesion properties and are used to protect joints in plumbing gaps and walls.

The same type includes a sanitary pipe sealant, which serves to protect the joints of individual pipeline elements. They are designed to maintain high sealing protection at both low and high pressures, and provide good high temperature sealing at pipe connections.