Water leaks past shower curtain in the front

[urdrwho]

In 2017 we installed a new non-metal tub and surround. Everything was installed as it should be but the water hits the lower lip of the surround in the front and then water dribbles / runs along the front top portion of the tub. Ending up on the floor. We solved this by placing suction cups along the vertical edge of the surround and clamped in the inside curtain. Last Thursday a contractor for the insurance company came to do an estimate (filing a claim). He grabbed the front of the shower curtain and flung it back, tearing the inside waterproof curtain out of the suction cups. Now I can't get it back and make it happy so it doesn't leak. Why the "heck" didn't he open it from the back, it was already open two feet.

After the install and the problems, I took videos and sent to the tub manufacturer. They gave me credit for the tub purchase but the cost of the tub was the least expense in the project.

When this all started we looked at other tubs and there were tubs out there with a small lip on the outside top edge of the tub and to me, the reason was to keep water from spilling out onto the floor. Not everybody wants a shower door. Yeah a door would stop all of this problem.

Now that I may have to do another install (insurance claim) I started looking for tubs with that lip. I can't see any. I was by my cousins house and it is an older house, she has a lip on her tub, just as I described.

Can I still find such tubs or do the manufacturers expect everyone to install shower doors? If so errrr! So many things these days are made in one way and one way only, options are few.

I did post this problem in 2017 but now my question is about tub purchase.

New tub & shower enclosure - leaking on floor - shower curtain

Recently removed the old tub and the 60 years of different tile jobs which made a very thick Thinset / plaster / wallboard. Err - hard to remove! Installed a well known name brand tub and their tub surround. My wife likes shower curtains and I didn't stud in for shower doors. Although the...

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[WorthFlorida]

My first home built new, 1979, the entire neighborhood had the same problem with newly release fiber glass type tubs. The fix was the splash guards.

To use suction cups again, the old ones get hard and won’t hold a suction. First is clean the wall they were on with CLR and uses a blue scrub pad (not green). Wipe it down with alcohol. Buy new suction cups and it should be able to work as you had it.

 

[Jeff H Young]

cast iron tubs dont have anything there either ? almost no tubs do have a ridge there thats the way tubs have been . the curtain needs to hang down on inside the tub. Tub dosent sound defective but you lived with it for years and was paid for a new one now you get a free remodel out of it. it but it sounds like neglect . A lot of insurance companys just rubber stamp and pay out the claim rather than fight you.

 

[Reach4]

I think you are talking about getting the shower curtain to wrap around inside. You cannot use the shower curtains with magnets for that with your non-metallic tub.

I would think one of those curved shower curtain rods would help the edges of the shower curtain to be more inside.

 

[urdrwho]

cast iron tubs dont have anything there either ? almost no tubs do have a ridge there thats the way tubs have been . the curtain needs to hang down on inside the tub. Tub dosent sound defective but you lived with it for years and was paid for a new one now you get a free remodel out of it. it but it sounds like neglect . A lot of insurance companys just rubber stamp and pay out the claim rather than fight you.

Sorry that I didn't fill in the complete story of the claim. It is not a claim for the leaking tub and we have a double curtain, cloth type outside and then vinyl liner inside.

The claim is for an accident that I had. Long story about drain bladder that I've used many times but this time the water (did not know) wasn't flowing down the pipe, to clean the clog. What I thought I heard as flowing water was actually water backing up the roof vent pipe. So when I turned off the hose, there I was with my bucket to capture any residual when I removed the bladder. Wrong. I had a LOT of pressurized black/grey water fly into my face, up the walls, every where and I fell backward. My 163 pound butt landed on the tub edge (channel locks in back pocket). It cracked the edge of the tub. So the proximate cause was a pipe, bursting forth pressurized water and the accident was me falling. That is the insurance claim. The hazard would be the clogged drain.

I have seen the tubs with the lip and to me it is much better engineering. Not that manufactures care anymore but I may try to find who made my cousins tub. I also remember seeing them at big box stored back in 2017. I was just at the big blue box store and noticed that there are minimal tub samples on the floor.

After 40 years in the insurance business, mainly in commercial, normally I wouldn't file a claim. I ran it by my friend who worked 30 years in claims and said yeah, sounds like it may be a valid claim, send it in and see what the adjuster says about it. It was beyond me being clumsy.

As for the tub? I have no idea why Delta coughed up the money back in 2017. Goodwill? Doubt it but I am guessing they were having a lot of complaining people. I can say for certain that the old cast iron tub didn't not have this issue. I'm 70 years old and except for 13 years, I've lived in this house all my life.

 

[urdrwho]

My first home built new, 1979, the entire neighborhood had the same problem with newly release fiber glass type tubs. The fix was the splash guards.

To use suction cups again, the old ones get hard and won’t hold a suction. First is clean the wall they were on with CLR and uses a blue scrub pad (not green). Wipe it down with alcohol. Buy new suction cups and it should be able to work as you had it.

This method has been working well but I think when the guy pulled the inside curtain, from front to back, out of the cups, it tore the inside curtain.

I did order splash guards one time but it never sealed well at the 90 degree part.

This really is a problem of engineering and design. Hm? A weep hole at the front of the tub that exits into the drain over flow piping. Didn't Sterling tubs have some sort of weep hole for water to return to the tub? Maybe it was a different issue. Build them like an airplane with redundancy built into the system and leaks out of that front edge would be gone. Just a slight slope at that front would stop an amazing amount of water from getting past the inside liner. But that would be done during the mold of the tub.

I'm thinking if my accidental claim, see my other post, (cracked tub edge) doesn't fly, I may just go with a shower door. My wife hates shower doors, she likes changing the curtain designs. I guess we could have a door and keep the curtain design and do away with the vinyl insider liner. It is surprising to me that there are so many, many, MANY hits about this problem and the only answers is putting a bandage on the gaping wound, the tub design.

Oh well, the pandemic, my wife's leukemia / bone marrow transplant, this is like a mouse compared to an elephant problem.