If I take this gasket out, will my shower fall apart?

November 13, 2016 5:09 PM

Our one-person shower stall leaks a bit. It has this one-piece rubbery gasket thing along the outside of the glass that doesn't look like it's doing a very good job - maybe it was good when first installed, but now it's coming out from the corners. I want to rip out the gasket and just caulk it, but I'm not sure if the gasket is important for keeping the glass in place. What do you think?
posted by Vampire Cat to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Did you consider leaving it in and using a silicon adhesive to caulk around the edges of it. (and, is this your house or a rental?)
posted by HuronBob at 5:22 PM on November 13, 2016

From the photo that looks like it's part of the structure holding in the glass.
posted by saradarlin at 5:58 PM on November 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

My guess is that the gasket is the ONLY thing holding the glass in. I wouldn't remove it.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 5:58 PM on November 13, 2016

Response by poster: It is our house. The reason I wanted to take the gasket out was to clean the area better before applying the caulk - it looks pretty mildewy in places. But if the consensus is the gasket is structural, I'll leave it in.
posted by Vampire Cat at 8:09 PM on November 13, 2016

Best answer: It's definitely holding the glass in. In the second picture you can see the ribs that fit into the channel. There's a break in the ribs to make the bend happen.

That said, there's no reason why you can't pull that out and put in new clean stuff. Snip a piece off and take it to a hardware or plumbing supply store to match it up. Look for "glass retaining spline" or "glass retaining gasket".
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:04 AM on November 14, 2016