Damn upstairs tub

[xiphias]

The third-floor tenant's bathtub is leaking again. I bought some stuff to fix it, but it doesn't adhere to the cheap vinyl the tub's made out of. The previous owners built the third-floor apartment as cheaply as possible. This means that they put in a tub that is impossible to completely seal, and which therefore repeatedly damages the second-floor kitchen ceiling.

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how a bathtub (as opposed to the plumbing associated with it) can leak. (I'm not arguing with you. I'm asking for more information, if you feel like explaining it.)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

The third-floor apartment is a converted attic. The bathroom is a room which was partially covered in tile to give it some degree of waterproofing.

The walls of the tub, or rather, the wall above the tub, is covered in this sort of vinyl sheets which hook together with seams. The seams are not watertight, and must be caulked.

Because the walls are vinyl, they have some flex to them, so the caulk cracks very quickly.

When someone showers, water runs along the walls and gets behind and drips down, into our kitchen.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Ah. That makes sense, and sounds incredibly annoying. Is thre any way of fixing it short of ripping out the whole installation and doing it right this time?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

None comes to mind.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Yuck.

Shower curtain on both sides of the tub?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Lis suggested the same thing. I just feel kinda weird asking our tenants to deal with that. It's a rather narrow bathtub. . .

[goljerp]

I've dealt with this sort of thing before (or at least the two-shower curtain thing). The one on the wall that leaks could be taped or somehow affixed to it so that it doesn't billow in... and altho it would look odd, might be a cheap way to deal with the problem. I'm sure your tenants don't particularly like having you come up and re-caulk all the time either...