Bath edge/sealant/??? Help!

[knn80]

I'm trying to remove the plastic edging around my bath without messing up the tiles above it. I can't see if the strip goes down behind the bath or if it is just a standard one, but it won't budge and I'm worried that if I'm too brutal the tiles will start to come away (previous owner's bodged job). Any tips?

 

[joe-90]

You need to run a sharp knife down the tiles to cut the silicone. I use one of those with snap off blades as they are very flexible.

Then do the same on the bath.

If the tiles come off after that well they were never stuck down anyway.

 

[skenk]

If the plastic strip goes behind the tiles you will need to mechanically remove it with a hammer and sharp (but cheapo!) chisel followed by sharp stanley knife, or you have something like a Fein multimaster it will make things a lot easier. Also wear thick gloves as the shards can be very sharp. Once you have cut your fingers to bits and managed to remove all protruding bits of plastic you will be left with a large gap between the bottom of the tiles and the bath which will be difficult to make a neat job of filling with silicone and impossible to get it looking good. Alternatively you could use some sealant strip stuff with silicone behind.

Neither option is great. Blame whoever it was who decided that crappy plastic sealant strips which are tiled in are a good idea.