Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Aker whirlpool bath unevenly installed

Thank you for the welcome!
Is there a way to put something behind the silicone, which I now plan to use to recaulk our Aker 6' whirlpool bath, that will stabilize it?

Otherwise, I feel it will take a gallon of silicone to fill the gap back to the wall. As it is, the spacing between the tub and the tile that surrounds it, varys from 1/8 to 1/2 inches.

The drywall behind the tile ends at the tile and does not extend below the tub line.

It seems like I'd need to put some sort of board from the floor up to the tub line for the silicone to lay on.

Also, tub appears to be resting on varying pieces of plywood used to level the tub (sort of like big shims), which in turn appear to be on the original floor (the rest of the bathroom was re-tiled by contractor.)

Backround
We have an Aker 6' whirlpool bath. The contractor installed it for us into a space where he had removed a five foot tub. He recaulked it twice before disappearing (a year and a half ago, leaving lots of other things undone, I add). The caulk has been cracked for a few months and I now am trying to fix it myself - the third re-caulking in two years.

I peeled and chipped away caulk and behind that, grout (or at least it looked like grout.) He seems to have grouted to the tub line because of the spacing around the tub. between the tub and the tile that surrounds it, varys greatly, like I said, from 1/8 to 1/2 inches.

I thought of using a ceramic edging kit, but I do not like how it looks.

Thank you!
Monty1

So if I'm reading this right, there is no tile flange on the tub, and the only thing keeping water from leaking into the wallspace is some cracking caulk? If so, someone messed up REAL bad.

Tubs should have a flange on them (either as an integral part of the tub, or as an addition), that the tile backerboard overlaps. Please tell me you have this, or else you're going to have to reinstall a whole lotta stuff.

beth

Hi Beth,

What is a flange? No one has mentioned this before. I am very novice. Monty1

Monty1,

Just out of curiousity, is this a self rimming whirlpool, which model did you get? This is strictly used for whirlpool and not also as shower?

http://www.akerplastics.com/ViewProductDrawing.jsp?ID=86 (this has a 1 1/2" nailing flange used to attach directly to the wall studs) Then wall finishes applied over cement board or greenboard.

http://www.akerplastics.com/ViewProductDrawing.jsp?ID=98 (Self-rimming - or drop in type)

Was there a wood frame made to set this into or not? What you describe it could be either, just not installed properly.

Most manufacturers recommend or suggest installing a mortar base support under the tub bottom before setting the tub in place. You can use either a bag of Quikcrete or a 5 gallon pail of pre-mix joint compound. ( usually I use the pre-mix 5 gallon...lazy and it's less mess)

When this sets up, usually with 24-48 hours, your tub bottom will be rock solid supported. This does 2 things, prevents any possibility of potential cracking within the fiberglass/acrylic and eliminates any movement at the tub drain assembly or potential leaks that could happen.

Since this already installed, I would need to know about which model you have and then based on the "gaps" you mentioned, somethjing wasn't done right nor was it planned right for proper installation. The fear is that this might have to be reinstalled as no easy fix is attainable.

When this is all done right, you will have no more problems! If you have some pics, e-mail them to me so I can see what you have.

Hope this helps!

I see now....the caulk on the floor. :) I was thinking caulk around the upper rim of the tub. That might not be so bad....