I've just re-siliconed my shower. The tube says I need to wait 24 hours for it to cure, but how far realistically can I push that 24 hours? Would 6 hours be good enough? I need a shower!
Yes, I probably should have started earlier in the day.
It will have skinned over by now. As long as it's treated gently and nothing is able to dig into the bead, e.g. dropping the soap, you'll be alright. Most silicone formulas that I've used cure faster when there's water covering the beads, and will actually cure underwater. I think that there are some exceptions (you've definitely used a silicone sealant, and not an acrylic sealant?). Read the fine print on the sealant container, just to double check. If the sealant smells of acetic acid, or formic acid is mentioned, then these are byproducts, and water will definitely speed up the cure, as the water will be washing the byproduct away, and driving the reaction forward.
rtv silicone, if it's already laid not much you can do to massively speed it up. needs moisture to cure, higher temperature and humidity will help it cure quicker. The skin is waterproof once formed. If it's not skinned over yet block up the plug hole and put some hot water in the pan.
Once it's skinned, a nice hot shower will probably be the best bet to speed things along and, as said above, unlikely to get damaged by water spray. Just don't drop the soap on it
more depends on how much movement there is in the tray and shower inclosure and what suff you use and how much is the bead
in my own house as low as over night (the base was rock solid you could have built a house on the wood and been ok
the cure time depends on the make/amount surfaces etc
where i work i mastic the shower base in the morning was been rented in the afternoon needs must when your in the ****
i use dow bathroom about a 10er a tube skins quite quick but dry times depend on a lot temps are also a point as well in a heated bathroom 3 times as fast if mastic in my own bathroom an cheaked it
As above the worry isn't about how waterproof it is - it's the weight in the tray/tub peeling the bead off the surface, or it being half cured and splitting the bead - 24 hours is generally only an 80% cure for it being "good enough" - a 'full' cure is often 7 days.
Good to know. It's a solid ceramic tray, it's not moving unless the house collapses. I was mainly worried that getting it wet would cause the joint to fail before it's cured. I ended up leaving it overnight just to be safe. It might have had around 12-18 hours before I used the shower, and it's been 3 days now. Seems to be holding up fine. Thanks all for the advice.