[DIY-Sam]

Hi all, first time posting.
My wife and I are doing some minor fixes to our apartment before selling. We have a bath/ shower combo in the ensuite that has 2 bathtub handles / grab bars ( see attached pictures). Unfortunately the seel for one handle is going mouldy and coming unstuck. I am hoping to be able to remove this and re- seel as we have bee unable to remove the mould. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated !
Thanks

 

[Msradell]

Any handle like this I've ever seen were molded into the tub and thus not removable. If you tried soaking the problem area in Clorox? He would probably have to wrap a towel or something like that around it to hold the Clorox in place.

 

[mathmonger]

Paint it.

 

[nebsclooney]

Hi all, first time posting.
My wife and I are doing some minor fixes to our apartment before selling. We have a bath/ shower combo in the ensuite that has 2 bathtub handles / grab bars ( see attached pictures). Unfortunately the seel for one handle is going mouldy and coming unstuck. I am hoping to be able to remove this and re- seel as we have bee unable to remove the mould. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated !
Thanks

I just saw this today. I am having the same problem with mold on the inside end of the handle in my bathtub. I hate it. I've tried clorox...but it didn't do anything. However, I started twisting the handle and it started loosening up. I'm just going to keep twisting and pulling and maybe one day it will come out. Good luck if you haven't fixed your problem yet.

 

[chandler48]

The only thing you did by twisting it was to release it from its secure fiberglas socket. It will not come out as it is captive inside the hull.

 

[nebsclooney]

Hi all, first time posting.
My wife and I are doing some minor fixes to our apartment before selling. We have a bath/ shower combo in the ensuite that has 2 bathtub handles / grab bars ( see attached pictures). Unfortunately the seel for one handle is going mouldy and coming unstuck. I am hoping to be able to remove this and re- seel as we have bee unable to remove the mould. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated !
Thanks

The only thing you did by twisting it was to release it from its secure fiberglas socket. It will not come out as it is captive inside the hull.

This morning the mold was still bugging me, so I got a razor knife and pried the rubber seals off. I discovered the mold was not on the plastic handle, but on the rubber seals. I decided to just remove them because they wouldn't come clean, and when both seals were removed, I could easily remove the plastic handle. Of course, I was left with two round holes to deal with, so I'm trying to decide if I should get new seals and put the handle back in, or just block those holes with grout or something. Thing is, I don't need that handle...but will I in the future? If so, I can always put it back, I suppose. Anyway, YOU CAN remove that handle if your bathtub is anything like mine. I'm really happy to have gotten rid of that nasty mold.

 

[chandler48]

You won't need that handle until one day that you do. I have one in my shower and use it for wash cloth, but you start to slip, you'll grab cooked spaghetti to keep from falling.

 

[nebsclooney]

Chandler48, you're right. I may need it someday. I removed some worn out daisy decals from the bottom of the tub only to discover, even if they were ugly and worn out, they still worked to help me from slipping in there. So, I had to get one of those bath mats. One day I may need that handle and I'll put it back. But for now, it's onto fixing the caulking along the base where tub meets linoleum. The linoleum is starting to curl so need to fix it SOON. By the way, love the quote and I know someone I can use it on!!! Thanks.

 

[chandler48]

If you aren't going to use the handle right away, get some Gorilla tape and place over the holes. Otherwise you will have water leaking behind the unit. Odd, I still have the floor flowers from the 70's in my tub, which is, incidentally, Harvest Gold 🤮 but the flowers are troopers.

 

[nebsclooney]

LOL. Golly, that's hoot. Having those floor flowers from the 70's is a tribute to the times that they made stuff that lasts. Not like these days. Anyway, I tried putting some small sink plugs in the holes for the time being, but they were too big. So, I used some masking tape for now. I figured water going in there is a bad thing and perhaps ants or any other bug crawling through into the house would also be a bad thing. If I can't find those rubber seals, I'm going to do a patch job with a bit of netting and caulking. (Otherwise I'll just change the tape from time to time.) Thanks for the chuckle about the flower decals.

 

[wrangler]

Had the acrylic handle actually break once on an old shower like that and after removing it covered the holes with solid round versions of those old anti-slip floor decals. I think I found them on Amazon

 

[nebsclooney]

Hello wrangler. Hey, that's a good idea. I haven't given it too much thought since I need to do the caulking next. After that, I'll figure out what I want to do with those holes. Maybe I'll put in a cup holder!! LOL. Just kidding.

 

[huesmann]

You can get rubber grommet plugs in a whole host of sizes. As long as you're OK with black!

 

[HarryJohnson66]

Hello! Very interesting topic!

 

[nebsclooney]

You can get rubber grommet plugs in a whole host of sizes. As long as you're OK with black!

Black grommets matter!!! I won’t be saying ANYTHING against black…no matter what it is!! LOL. But I will say white would be a more suitable match for the tub. However, the possibilities are endless!!

 

[nebsclooney]

 

[Grabbar]

Hello wrangler. Hey, that's a good idea. I haven't given it too much thought since I need to do the caulking next. After that, I'll figure out what I want to do with those holes. Maybe I'll put in a cup holder!! LOL. Just kidding.

You can buy seals 1inch in quite a few places i got the same situation which i have not tackled yet