A puddle on the bathroom floor after every shower is annoying, but it is also doing quiet damage to the floor, the skirting and often the ceiling below. The good news is that most screen leaks are not a failed enclosure at all. They are a worn seal strip, silicone in the wrong place, a door that has dropped on its rollers, or water simply being pointed at a gap. This guide walks through the five faults in the order a bathroom fitter checks them, so you can work out whether you need a five minute part or a new enclosure.
Fault one, the seal strip has hardened
The clear strip clipped to the bottom or leading edge of the glass is a wearing part. New, it is soft and flexible and sits flat on the tray. After a few years of hot water and cleaning sprays it goes hard, curls up at the ends and stops touching the tray at all. Look along the strip at eye level. If daylight shows under it, or the wiper lip stands proud instead of laying over, that is your leak. Replacements are sold by profile and glass thickness, and they slide out of the channel with a firm pull.
Fault two, silicone on the wrong face
An enclosure is designed to let the small amount of water that gets into the frame drain back into the tray. If somebody has sealed the inside of the frame as well as the outside, that water is trapped and eventually finds a way out through the wall side or under the tray lip. Silicone should run in a neat line on the outside of the frame where it meets the tray, and nowhere else. Removing an inside bead often fixes a leak that no amount of new sealant would.
Fault three, the door has dropped
Sliding and pivot doors run on adjustable rollers or hinge blocks. As they wear, the door sits a few millimetres lower, so the magnetic strips no longer meet cleanly down their full length and the bottom seal drags rather than sweeps. Close the door and look at the closing strip. If there is a wedge shaped gap top or bottom, adjust the rollers back up. On most doors that is a cover cap and one screw per roller.
Fault four, the tray or the fall
Water leaves where the floor is lowest. If a tray was bedded on an uneven floor, or the timber beneath it has settled, the whole enclosure runs slightly downhill to one corner and that corner will always leak, whatever seals you fit. Put a spirit level across the tray in both directions. Any noticeable fall away from the waste is a bedding problem, not a sealing problem, and it needs the tray lifting and re-bedding properly on a full mortar bed.
Fault five, aim and spray
Some leaks are simply water being pointed at a joint. A big rain head fitted close to a screen edge, or a hose handset left aiming at the door gap, will beat any seal. In tight rooms, an extra return panel or a wider screen solves what sealant never will.
Safe steps you can do today
- Dry the tray, run the shower for two minutes and watch exactly where the first water appears. Do not guess from the puddle.
- Take the old seal strip to a merchant rather than ordering by eye. Profiles differ by a millimetre and the wrong one will not clip in.
- Cut old silicone out with a plastic scraper, clean with methylated spirit and let it dry fully before applying new sanitary grade sealant.
- Check the tray for movement by standing in each corner in turn. Any creak or flex means the bedding has failed.
When a repair is throwing good money after bad
If the frame has corroded, if the glass has been taken off and refitted several times, or if the tray flexes underfoot, you will be back to the same puddle within a year. A new enclosure fitted onto a properly bedded tray, or a level access build if the floor allows it, costs less than three or four repair visits and a floor replacement. We will say so plainly rather than sell you seals that we know will fail.
Want it sorted properly?
We repair and replace shower enclosures across Stoke-on-Trent and the surrounding towns. Tell us what is happening using the enquiry form, or look at our repairs and replacement service to see what is involved. Free survey and a fixed written price within 24 hours.
Common questions
Are shower screen seals a replaceable part?
Yes. The clear plastic strips that clip to the glass edge and the base are consumables. They are sold by profile shape and glass thickness, and they slide off and on without removing the screen.
Why does water only escape at one corner?
Nearly always a fall problem or a lifted seal at that corner. Water follows the low point, so a tray that has settled slightly will always leak in the same place.
Should there be silicone on the inside of the screen?
Silicone belongs on the outside of the frame at the tray junction. Sealing the inside as well traps water in the channel with nowhere to drain, which causes smells and slow seepage.
How long should seals last?
Three to five years of daily use is normal before they go brittle or lose their spring. Cleaning products with bleach shorten that noticeably.
When is it not worth repairing?
If the tray flexes, the frame has corroded or the glass has been drilled and refitted more than once, new parts will keep failing. At that point a new enclosure is cheaper than repeat visits.