caulking shower pan

[Steve70605]

My drain pan has never leaked and it is not caulked, however, had a leaky shower door. I asked an "expert" who recommended to seal all around the OUTSIDE of the door rails (sides and bottom) with clear silicone. He stated to not seal the inside of the rails to allow water to flow back into pan area and to dry.

Have not had an issue since with either leaking or mold in past year and half.

Just my 2 cents....

[ghof]

This solution sounds logical! If mine fails again I'll definitely try it.

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[Chip]

When I had my shower leak I used aluminum duct tape to seal off the infamous bottom gap. I used the shower for a couple months that way without problems. Once I was satisfied that the source of the leak was there, I caulked the surround. I reckon that my lip is cracked or broken off in some location and therefore doesn't direct the water back into the pan as it should.

During initial testing I laid the sprayer head in the bottom of the pan and ran water for several minutes to verify the drain plumbing wasn't the cause. (had that problem earlier and had to resort to plumbers epoxy putty to seal up a bad joint I could barely reach)

I caulked the surround with GE 100% silicone II in almond color. VERY good match for the enclosure color.

Once everything cured I ran the sprayer up against all the joints I caulked and they were water tight. I did however find that I could get some water to leak if I directly sprayed against the lower door frame long enough. One of these days I will attend to that area for piece of mind, but in practical use I don't get much water on that area when I shower to notice leakage.

[ghof]

My lip cracks when I smile. Anyway, I also had to fix the drain. I think owners should demand the bean counters and engineers who designed this junk be taken out behind a barn and have the stupid beat out of them.

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[Edki45]

Originally Posted by penguin

Don't have a lot of confidence in engineers, very smart people but no common sense or real world experience. I caulked mine. Just my 2 cents.

I would give you two bucks not just two cents if you could find an RV engineer that could engineer his way out of a wet paper bag. Of course, part of that is because he has the RV manufacturer bean counters dragging his butt down.

[Edki45]

If you did that they would just stink and get in the way of common-sense progress like they always have until you buried him about 20 feet down.

[Edki45]

But, of course, if you think about it a little more thoroughly and you beat the stupidity out of all the engineers and bean counters what would you have left to bury?
Wow, another problem solved.

[Newf026]

Caulking the shower was the first "repair" that I had to do to my new 2020 Miramar. I had done the same thing to my last 2 RV's (one also a Thor) so I just accept that those joints rarely work well.

In this case I only needed to caulk the bottom left seam at the base of the pan.

No problems since doing it.

[Coveman2]

I was also told not to caulk the shower pan. I have a shower curtain but did install a product called Water Dam Collapsible by Grabber (GBC-710) and it stopped any water getting out of the pan. I tip if you buy , you do not need the end caps just caulk with silicone and we have never had water get on the floor since.
Coveman2
2018 Thor Compass 23 TB

[Forest Grump]

If you caulk the shower wall to the pan the condensation on the exterior shower wall has no where to go other than to dramatically increase the humidity in the trapped area and allow mold to grow, maybe black mold, not good - really not good. It is designed that way so that it can return to shower pan. If you have a drawer under the pan remove it and look to see where your issue is. Maybe there is so much condensation that the wood behind the shower has condensation. Install a couple of vents below the pan then. It’s better to drip on the floor than to stay and cause rot. You can wipe up the drips not the rot.