Caulking shower stall questions

[andy911]

Hi all, I’m installing glue up 2-sided shower walls and had a couple of questions:

1) These walls are made to order and it seems they have made one 1/4” shorter than the other. This means if I line them up at the top and leave a 1/8” gap at the bottom of one wall the other will have a 3/8” gap. As long as I use a backer rod will I be okay with silicone?

2) Aesthetically, I would prefer it if I didn’t have to silicone seal the wall/wall corner. I was thinking I might lay down a heavy bead of silicone behind the corner (ie before I set in the 2nd panel) so that it squishes through the seam, which I will wipe down but hopefully there will be a good seal between and behind the two panels. Is this strategy foolish?


Thanks!

[Kman]

What are the pieces made of?

[andy911]

The wall pieces? They are Vanico uniwall panels, which appear to be a fiberglass core with a laminate white finished surface sandwich.

[jadnashua]

Assuming these are supposed to work together, I'd try to take them back and get some that are matched.

If they're just flat panels, I'd consider just cutting the longer one off so they were the same height. Done on the top, you'd probably never notice.

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Panels as you describe are meant to be fitted, or scribed, into position. Find the lowest point of the shower pan where it meets the two walls, then measure upwards to a height equal to that of the shortest panel and draw a level line on the walls. That line represents the highest possible wall height, assuming you want both to be at the same height and fit nicely to the pan.

As far as the caulking: it’s not a great idea to do as you’re suggesting. The caulk bead you put between the panels...or between the panels and pan needs to simultaneously deform and stay adhered to the adjacent materials as the walls and pan microscopically expand and contract due to normal changes in temperature and moisture. And caulk that’s mashed between two materials that are almost touching each other severely impedes the caulks ability to flex. A traditional corner bead allows more flex to the caulk.

I suggest looking into ColorRite’s “Caulk-Mist” spray and their “Perfect Bead” tool. The combination of the two are extremely helpful in making neat silicone caulk beads.

[andy911]

These were custom ordered and due to coronavirus the manufacturer is shut down for the foreseeable future. I also do not trust my ability to cut a clean straight trim line, so shortening the panel is out of the question. Are you guys saying the large gap with backer rod is a bad idea? For what it’s worth the nailing edge of the pan is still very comfortably overlapped by the wall panels, and is already silicone sealed to the MoldTough drywall backing.


Thanks for the color rite tooling links, that will help. I still don’t think the silicone will match either the color or finish of the walls but maybe unavoidable.

[andy911]

Also these panels have finished edges on 3 sides and they are a composite core, so I don’t *think* they are meant to be cut/scribed. The manufacturer recommends a 1/4” gap to the shower pan which is already larger than what you guys want

Cheers

[Davy]

You've probably thought of this but if these panels go wall to wall and floor to ceiling, hopefully the shower is open enough to get the panels in there. And, if there's a piece for the ceiling, most of the time it's installed first and the wall pieces up against it for added support.

[andy911]

Thankfully it’s just two pieces and they are only 7’. I was originally thinking about floor to ceiling but they don’t manufacture that height anymore and in hindsight it would have been a much more difficult install anyways.

Cheers

[Tool Guy - Kg]

Originally Posted by andy911

...I still don’t think the silicone will match either the color or finish of the walls but maybe unavoidable.

Color Rite makes hundreds of colors. And you can get the silicone in a shiny or matte finish. And they also have a multi-colored-granular-flecked caulk known as PolySil if your panels mimic some granite or solid-surface flecked pattern.