Re-glue blown shower-wall panel

[epatrickt]

Hello - I had the unfortunate experience of pressing against the join in a shower wall panel to see it moving. It's ben in place for about 5 years without problem, installed by a local builder. The join is inside the walk-in shower. Is there a neat way to re-adhere the panel without disassembling half the bathroom please? Imagining something like an adhesive ot the end of a narrow flexible pipe or something.

Taking the panels off would require taking the shower apart and then the panels for a whole wall which would then need to be replaced and I think they have faded since they were installed.

...Hoping there is a way to avoid huge work!

Thanks

 

[motorbiking]

A picture would help. you could try to inject a glue. Plenty on the market.

 

[epatrickt]

A picture would help. you could try to inject a glue. Plenty on the market.

Thanks for that - good point on the photo, now attached. Not sure how much it shows except to say that on either side of the vertical join the panels have come unstuck from the wall from the shower tray about 2/3 up the wall.

You mention lots of products on the market - would you be able to suggest some and how to apply it without making a mess of the panels? I can't see how that's done!

Thanks

 

[motorbiking]

so the panel in the bottom (left as you face it) has come away and there is a tear line formed on the adjacent panel?

Not going to be easy to fix without it showing. maybe as temporary fix, a clear silicon bead over the join.

 

[epatrickt]

Not quite - no tear. The line you see is the join in the board. Both left and right of the join has come away from the shower tray to about 2/3 up the wall.

Was thinking a crude fix of simple silicone over the bottom of the sheet adjacent to the tray just to keep the water out may be all I can do but was hoping that there might be a way to inject some adhesive via a thin pipe or something to flood the rear with a grippy glue?

 

[dilalio]

Anything less than taking it out will be a bodge. If water gets behind it will wreck things before you see evidence of it.

Builder's are not plumbers (with exception) they are more concerned with how quick something goes in and how it looks, rather than how it performs. If it lasts a year then they are happy that it lasts past their warranty obligations.

 

[Madrab]

If the panel has uncoupled itself from the wall, rather than delaminated from itself then that's a whole different story. These panels typically use a grab adhesive to fix them to the wall surface and nothing small enough to not be seen would be able to inject suitable amounts of that to stabilise and re-adhere the panel to the wall I'm afraid.

Holes large enough to get the nozzle of an adhesive tube in would need to be made, then covered back up/filled in once done. You could then use small discs of similar material or a coloured silicone adhesive to in fill

 

[epatrickt]

Anything less than taking it out will be a bodge. If water gets behind it will wreck things before you see evidence of it.

Builder's are not plumbers (with exception) they are more concerned with how quick something goes in and how it looks, rather than how it performs. If it lasts a year then they are happy that it lasts past their warranty obligations.

Yes, hoping for a different answer! Taking it out is a major job that will mean replacement panels looking different to those on the adjacent walls. Also, disassembly of the shower. Not impossible but not a lovely prospect. That's the only way to go about it? Eugh.

 

[epatrickt]

If the panel has uncoupled itself from the wall, rather than delaminated from itself then that's a whole different story. These panels typically use a grab adhesive to fix them to the wall surface and nothing small enough to not be seen would be able to inject suitable amounts of that to stabilise and re-adhere the panel to the wall I'm afraid.

Holes large enough to get the nozzle of an adhesive tube in would need to be made, then covered back up/filled in once done. You could then use small discs of similar material or a coloured silicone adhesive to in fill

Yes, I think the adhesive has given up rather than the board failing (not 100% though to be honest, can't see it). I'd need to make a series of holes I imagine and squirt in a grab adhesive of some sort? I think the builder used a no-solvent one, maybe that's too feeble for the long-term? I think we have a couple of off-cuts of the panel that we might be able to use - it's going to look pretty rough though I guess. What a nuisance - we went this route after seeing what happens when tiles fail thinking this is the way to go. Not sure that is correct.

 

[dilalio]

Yes, I think the adhesive has given up rather than the board failing (not 100% though to be honest, can't see it). I'd need to make a series of holes I imagine and squirt in a grab adhesive of some sort? I think the builder used a no-solvent one, maybe that's too feeble for the long-term? I think we have a couple of off-cuts of the panel that we might be able to use - it's going to look pretty rough though I guess. What a nuisance - we went this route after seeing what happens when tiles fail thinking this is the way to go. Not sure that is correct.

Anything that is put in without proper preparation of the sub surface is likely to fail prematurely.