Silicone King Guarantee their Silicone Sealant

Silicone King’s Guarantee:

“Silicone King” guarantee a hassle-free, top notch service including:

For details of what’s involved why not visit our web page entitled ” The Service”.

Terms and Conditions of the Guarantee

*Glasgow’s “Silicone King” guarantee hassle-free, top notch customer service. If you are not 100% happy with our work, “Silicone King” promise to return free of charge to rectify any issues (covered by the guarantee terms) with our silicone sealant (customer supplied sealant is not covered by any guarantee). The silicone sealant is guaranteed mould free: one year for private properties (subject to terms below), tenanted rental properties and HMO’s are excluded. Silicone sealant that cannot get direct light from a window, and/ or the window is obstructed by a soft furnishings i.e.curtains, blinds etc. is not guaranteed mould free. Silicone sealant in internal bathrooms (a room without a window) is not guaranteed against mould or mildew, nor are showers or bath’s built into solid walled areas that have restricted or limited natural daylight. Commercial properties are not covered against mould or mildew. Kitchen Sealant is not guaranteed against mould or grease.

Proper Ventilaton**

In order for the silicone sealant guarantee against mould to be valid (see mould guarantee details below), proper ventilation of the room is necessary (including being fitted with a fully functioning humidistat extractor fan that meets current building regulations), as mildew, mould and bacteria thrive in a warm, damp atmosphere. Proper ventilation is essential in order to reduce these high humidity conditions. Whilst the antimicrobial elements of “Microban®” or “SteriTouch®” sealants help prevent the growth of mould, the build-up of bacteria, and mildew, there is no substitute for regular cleaning, as deposits of soap and body fat can result in mould, that cause staining, and degradation of the silicone sealant.

Maximise Sealant Life**

“Silicone King” would recommend in order to maximise the life of the silicone sealant, that the silicone sealant in the shower/bath area is wiped down from standing water after every use. A squeegee is very useful for doing this, and makes the job easy after every shower – get all the family to do it everytime, and it helps reduce the amount of cleaning that the tiles and shower glass require – there’s even an upside!!

Cleaning**

Silicone King recommend cleaning of the silicone at least as frequently as once a week using a damp cloth and a cream cleaner such as “CIF” using a light rubbing action and then rinse off. Avoid the use of spray cleaners as these contain chemicals that may have a detrimental effect on the anti mould properties of the silicone sealant and may even discolour the sealant – if this was the case Silicone King would have no liability.

Discolouration**

should the silicone sealant become discoloured then it it highly likely that the sealant has been subjected to hair dyes, and/or the wrong cleaning method (see “Cleaning”) – discolouration is not covered by any guarantee.

Silicone King” guarantee

* “Silicone King”** guarantee a leak free finish for twelve months from date of application (subject to all conditions notified within the “guarantee terms and conditions”), but only to the silicone sealant that we have supplied and applied, and the silicone sealant must not have been subjected to water within 24hrs of application, or longer, as notified by the technician. In the unlikely event that a leak does occur, it is probable that it is caused by the shower frame not being sealed properly when installed – “Silicone King” can only guarantee a sealant job “leak free” where all the horizontal, and vertical faces to the shower frame are included in the same job, and none of the beads of silicone sealant exceed 8mm in depth and/or width. Furthermore, Silicone King will not guarantee any seal where there has been movement to any part of the installation, (including trays or baths that flex) following on from the date that the sealant was applied. All installations must be free of movement and secure. “Silicone King” do not guarantee any installation leak free where no “primary seal” has been applied at the time of installation of the bath and/or shower unit, or if a “primary seal” was applied that has failed.

What is a “primary seal”?

It is an application of silicone sealant that is applied by the bathroom installer (at the time of installation), around a bath or shower tray (“primary seal”) between the fixture and the wall, prior to tiling, or the fitting of “wet wall” or chosen finish. A “secondary seal” is then applied, which is the one that is visible, meaning that there is a double barrier against leaks. Where no “primary seal” has been applied, it means that the unit has not been sealed properly at time of installation. It is not possible to retro fit a “primary seal”, as this would require for the wall finish to be removed to gain access. In addition * and ** Silicone sealant is not covered by any guarantee in any of the following installations: saunas, wet rooms, power showers, tropical rain style showers, deluge showers, rain fall style showers, steam rooms, self contained free standing shower cubicles/cabins.

Specific Tiles not covered by leak free guarantee and/or cosmetic finish:

all natural stone tiles such as sandstone, travertine, granite, slate, marble and limestone etc. are porous and need to be sealed. New unsealed natural stone tiles are not covered by the guarantee, nor are older installations that have existing tiles that have not been sealed on a regular basis – older installations may show some or all of the following:- signs that tiles have not been sealed adequately are discolouration, efflorescence (salt deposits) on surface of tiles giving a rough finish when the tile should be smooth, the tiles starting to crumble, and/or black spotting on the tiles – in these instances the application of silicone sealant will not be guaranteed leak free as the tile is probably holding water and silicone will not stick to wet surfaces – evidence of bubbling/blistering (see below) in the applied silicone is also a sign of trapped water being present and is not an indication of poor application, or of the silicone sealant applied being of a poor quality, but rather a reaction to the water present. Silicone sealant will not adhere well to porous surfaces, or porous tiles that have not been sealed, and if the tiles are holding water bubbling may occur after the technician has left.

Bubbling/Blistering in the sealant is not covered by any guarantee

Bubbling/Blistering in the sealant is not covered by any guarantee and is not an indication of poor application, or of the silicone sealant applied being of a poor quality, but rather of a reaction to trapped water being present, and would indicate a pre-existing underlying issue in the tiles, wet wall, and/or grout and/or tile adhesive, that requires to be fixed by the owner of the property. The cause of bubbling/blistering is caused by water being present behind the tiles, within the grout, within the tile adhesive, or within the tiles (if the tiles are natural stone and are porous they require to be sealed prior to installation and then sealed on an annual basis, or as recommended by the manufacturer). Cracked grout or poor quality grout may have allowed water behind the tiles and the tile adhesive may now also have become soaked. It would appear that the bubbling/blistering will generally occur a short period after the application, quite possibly after the technician has left the job – the problem is caused by trapped water droplets trying to work their way to the surface of sealant, the seal should still be effective and the issue presented tends to be more of a cosmetic issue. Times when this may occur is particularly when the existing seal has failed, the grout has failed, or natural stone tiles have not been sealed adequately – every effort will be made during the job to remove any excess residual water but there is no way of ensuring or knowing that all the water has successfully been removed, as trapped water may take time to appear and work its way to the surface of the silicone sealant. Also it is not possible to see what is going on behind the finish applied to the wall, or in case of untreated natural stone tiles as to how much water they are holding.

Leaking Frames

the most normal place for a fame to leak is at the base of the vertical metal upright causing water to dribble out onto the floor, or for a leak to be found below the tray resulting in damp or drips to appear downstairs, or damp on the adjoining room wall – the reason for this is that the foot of the upright was not sealed at the wall at the time of installation – it is not possible to seal this properly without dismantling the frame (Silicone King do not dismantle installations) however we can attempt to apply sealant under pressure into the space at the bottom of the frame in an attempt to rectify the leak – this type of leak is not guaranteed.

Beading Style Seals or Flexible Strips**

regretably, “Silicone King” cannot guarantee a leak free finish to the silicone sealant where beading style seals, or flexible strips are being used. In our experience, these type of seals tend not to be watertight, are problematic, and where possible are best removed . Silicone King may retro fit a beading seal where the gap between the wall finish and the tray or bath is excessive in order to attempt to get a watertight and a good cosmetic finish.

Grout between the expansion joints**

regretably, “Silicone King” cannot guarantee a leak free finish to the silicone sealant where there is grout between the expansion joints between the tiled verticals, and/or between the shower tray or the bath and the tiles. The reason is that silicone adheres very poorly to grouted surfaces. Where practical and possible the grout will be removed but it may incur additional charges. When sealant is applied to areas of grout it may cause bubbling within the sealant – this is not the fault of the application, and Silicone King do not take any responsibility for the cosmetic appearance, nor in the event of the seal failing. Also, in this type of situation, the sealant is not guaranteed mould free – due to poor sealant adhesion, there is a tendency for water to get behind the sealant, and cause discolouration from the back side.

* Awkward areas**:- areas that are not easily accessible cannot be guaranteed leak free.

* Similarly**, sanitary ware (shower bases/enclosures/screens, baths etc.) that is insecure, flexes, or is not fitted properly is not guaranteed leak free, although every effort is made to attempt a leak free finish.

Mould free guarantee

*Validity of any “mould free” guarantee** offered may be invalidated if regular cleaning of the silicone sealant has not been carried out or the correct method of cleaning has not been followed (see “Cleaning”), and the room requires to be properly ventilated and fitted with a fully functioning humidistat extractor fan (even if a window is present) throughout the guarantee period. In addition at least one opening window must be present and must be able to be fully opened – the light from the window must be able to shine directly onto the silicone and/or grout – the reason is that natural daylight inhibits mould, as mould thrives in dark conditions. Installations where direct natural daylight cannot shine directly onto the silicone are not guaranteed free from mould. If blinds or curtains are present, they should be opened during daylight hours to help inhibit mould. A humidistat fan must be present and meet “current building regulations” minimum extractor rate requirements, for the room size. Pooling of water caused by the installation not being level can mean that the silicone is left wet for prolonged periods – bathroom silicone is not designed to be constantly wet and under these circumstances may go mouldy – should this situation exist then the sealant is not guaranteed.

Claims

in the event of the customer having fulfilled the guarantee requirements, “Silicone King” will return free of charge to replace the defective area of silicone sealant. *Invalid Claims**: Where “Silicone King” find that we are not at fault, then we reserve the right to make a minimum callout charge of £79 ,includes one hour labour, free travel within our designated boundary (for travel out with our designated boundary:- http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/933/0085550.pdf ), materials used are chargeable, plus additional time if required is charged at £35 per hour or part hour thereof to rectify the issue, where it is not a material fault of “Silicone King” (this would include sealant that has not been cleaned by the customer).