LESLIE: Going to South Dakota to chat with Alicia whose bathtub is cracking up. What happened?
ALICIA: I don’t know. We just moved into a house and we got – and the shower in our master bedroom has a crack underneath where you shower.
TOM: Now what kind of shower pan is it? Is it a fiberglass or like a plastic pan?
ALICIA: A plastic.
TOM: OK. Well, there are two ways to fix this. I mean the right way to do this is to replace the pan but another way to do it, which will be a lot less expensive but not quite as pretty, is to patch it. And the way you could patch this is actually with a fiberglass repair kit. You can go to an auto parts store, or if you happen to have a boating supply store, you can buy fiberglass and resin at the store and you apply the resin then you press the fiberglass into the resin. Then you put another layer of resin …
LESLIE: And the fiberglass is like in sheets almost, correct?
TOM: Yeah, you cut it. It’s like material. It’s like a netting kind of a material. And you press it in there in a couple of different layers and then the topcoat you can use a glaze coat and maybe paint the entire fiberglass pan the same color. Now you’ll still see the patch but it won’t crack anymore and it won’t leak. So those are two ways to fix it, Alicia.
LESLIE: Is there any sanding that you have to do to the edge of this fiberglass resin compound thing you’re doing?
TOM: You know, if you’re pretty good brushing on the fiberglass you don’t have to do much sanding.
LESLIE: OK.
TOM: You’ll need a couple of layers, though. You can’t – you don’t just do it in one layer. You do it multiple layers and that’s what makes it stick.
LESLIE: Alright, how many layers should I do?
TOM: Probably two layers of fiberglass. I would put one angle and then do the other sort of 90-degree opposed and then you’ll probably need probably three or four coats of the fiberglass resin.
LESLIE: Alright, thank you.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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