Bathroom seal around bath

[stu1102]

Hi All

what is the best way to remove, I understand some people use  a PVCu solvent cleaner to spray on first before removing

thanks for any guidance

[Little Jim]

Mechanical removal is really the only way - ie a sharp scraper.   If it is a silicone based sealant then no chemicals will really affect it -  a friend of mine used to work in the sealant industry and when I asked him the same question told me that if I could come up with something which would remove silicone sealant then I could give him half of the sales rights and we would both be able to retire immediately with more money than we knew what to do with.

[Paul]

I did ours at the weekend. I have to say that wd40 helped. I eased the edges of the sealant away with a sharp scraper, then sprayed with wd and left it for a few minutes. the treated sealant came away more easily. You still have to hack away at the main bits, but it seems to soften/dissolve the sealant enough to make a rotten job a bit more bearable.

It also made the cleaning much easier: another spray then removing the traces of old sealant with a cloth/scourer was easy.

[stu1102]

Thanks Little Jim, Paul

paul I did look at WD40 but then I found this; https://www.fixmyroof.co.uk/remove-silicone-sealant-from-a-bath-or-shower/

[Paul]

Hmm. I'm pretty sure I cleaned it all off, but I'll keep an eye on it.

[mcshroom]

I found a Swiss Army Knife's can opener worked well to get the stuff moving, and then a chisel was good for persuading the rest of it out afterwards.

[andytheflyer]

I've found that the silicone remover you can buy does work in softening it up.  You may need 2 or 3 applications, but it does help a sharp scraper to lift it all away.