New Tub Crack

All,

First time poster but long time lurker here. I am in the middle of a bathroom remodel including a new tub and tile. So far this site has been a great help.

Our new tub was installed this past week on a mortar bed and has been braced to the wall with roofing nails (over the lip). Finshed the vapor barrier today and went to put up the first piece of hardibacker and noticed a crack on the lip . The crack straggles from the top of the lip to the bottom (about 1 inch) and moves about 1/2-inch laterally along the way. The good news is that the crack seems to stop where the lip bends 90 degrees and turns into the "shelf" at the top of the tub. The crack exists about 8" from the drain side of the tub along the back side. Note also that the crack is not "open" meaning that no material is missing from the fracture. The tub is a Sterling Performa model, made out of a plastic type material called Vikrell.

Am I doomed here ? Is there any way to fix this (or does it even matter) ? I know that the crack will be covered by the Hardibacker board once it is placed, but it did not want to cover up a problem that might come back to bite me (as in the crack growing into the main part of the tub).

My wife said she recalled it when we placed the tub, so I guess it is possible it was there from day 1. However, pulling the tub out to return to the store would be a complete pain with that mortar bed in place.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks in advance,

Pete

Buckeye95 said:

The crack straggles from the top of the lip to the bottom (about 1 inch) and moves about 1/2-inch laterally along the way ... seems to stop where the lip bends 90 degrees and turns into the "shelf" at the top of the tub ... no material is missing from the fracture.

Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you have nothing more than a surface crack that will be covered (hidden), sealed, and unable to leak, but the fact that it runs toward an exposed surface rather than altogether laterally at least *could* mean trouble ahead.

If there is a nearby nail or anything else either causing or aggravating that crack, I would definitely relieve that pressure and possibly even use a shim of some kind to help close that crack and keep it closed.

Vikrell is compression molded (pressed) fiberglass. I would contact the Sterling engineers and email them a picture and seek their advice. I'm sure the've seen it all before. Glad to hear you set it in a mortar bed. That extra effort will pay dividens in the future.

Thanks for all the great advice everyone.

I did call up Sterling, and they seemed very understanding. They got my information and stated a local contact will be giving me a call to come look at the tub. The gentleman I spoke with stated that even if it is a crack to be concerned about, they have individuals they work with they can have come fix it (epoxy ?).

This was yesterday and I still have not heard anything from the local "contact". I will keep you informed.

Regards,

Pete
Buckeye95

Just a quick update for everyone.

As noted above, Kohler/Sterling arranged for a local bathtub repair company to come take a look at the crack. He thought that it was probably caused during shipment and repaired it for free (though he did have to call Kohler first to confirm they would approve the fix).

The gentleman started by drilling a small hole at the far end of the crack, which he stated would stop any further growth of the crack. He then used a Dremel tool to open up and clean out the crack area. This was followed by the application of some sort of poly/glue (the bottle said Kohler), which was allowed to dry and I was good to go.

As an FYI, the guy stated that it would have cost $115 if I had to pay this out-of-pocket, so I'm glad it was found to be warranty work.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Regards,

Pete
Buckeye95