Over the past 15 years, I have installed two successive ASB (Masco/Delta) neoangle shower units, the current one being model 403306, with a series of installation and maintenance problems that are too numerous to go into here, but maybe some experience-based observations would be useful for anyone interested in these products.

There are three problems that doom their installation to be forever problematic.

The shower base unit is molded plastic, which I was told was polystyrene. It is a sturdy unit but has a basic flaw: caulking refuses to adhere to it for any length of time! The install instructions specifically state: "Do not use silicone". I have tried over the years to find a caulk that works, but to no avail. The most recent was DAP 3.0, which has failed after about a year and a half. So if you plan to install one of these units, be reconciled to having to recaulk every one or two years. I have asked ASB (Masco/Delta) customer service what they would recommend, and they refuse to suggest a brand or product. I have suggested in a letter that they solve the problem by having a caulk custom blended and furnish several tubes with the shower kit and also sell them as spare parts, but that has fallen on deaf ears. I have even written to Home Depot suggesting they should stop selling a product for which they refuse to recommend an installer, and which cannot in fact be installed successfully - but no response.

The install instructions are pitiful. Their trilinguil approach with english, spanish, and french on every page is irritating and confusing. The illustrations and the wording don't always agree with each other (I actually had a customer service representative tell me to ignore the illustrations and just do what the words tell you!). And the last revision to this document was done in 2006!

The instructions on caulking actually exacerbate the base non-adhesion problem. They tell you to caulk along the bottom of the wall liners INSIDE the shower, but to caulk along the bottom of the glass panels and the door jamb OUTSIDE the shower. So when the shower head is pounding the base with water, it is forced under the bottom of glass panel and encouraged by the pressure to lift the bottom of the outside caulk and ooze out OR run along the base under the glass panel and spill out in slowly damaging seepage (in my case, behind the wall and baseboard outside the shower). Interestingly, in responding to my most recent email this week, a customer service representative told me I should caulk at the bottom of the glass panels BOTH inside and outside!

Their customer service department has been very good about replacing parts and have even refunded the purchase price of one of the shower kits, but they have been unable to solve the problem. (If any of you know of some magic caulk that sticks to polystyrene, let me know). And it would be very difficult and costly to uninstall one of these units and try something else, so I will have to continue to fight the battle.

My next step in this 15 year pain is to remove all caulk and re-caulk completely inside the shower, with no caulking at the base on the outside. My reasoning is that, even if the horizontal side of the caulking bead doesn't adhere to the shower floor, the pressure from the showerhead will tend to hold it down as opposed to lifting it. In addition, a quick glance after using the shower will tell me whether there has been any leakage, and I can address it rather than have it seep unobserved behind the walls and do more damage.

Good luck, and if anybody has any ideas about a magic caulk, I would welcome them.

You stated that you are on the second shower system. What happened to the first one?

if you bought it from home depot, why aren't you dealing with them rather than the manufacturer?
ultimately home depot sold you the unit, they are responsible.
manufacturers customer reps are trained not to solve problems. they are trained at making excuses and placating the customer.

Your problem was curious to me as a DITYSer also. So ---------

If you check out Home Depot customer reviews concerning your shower you are not the only one with problems. If you have not already you may want to add to the list. As of 14 Feb 2014 there are at least 55 reviews listed. This seems to be the shower from H--L.

You may want to "wade" thru them all -- but I did see the following (however not clear about how long "it" will last.)

Home Depot ---- Customer Review for shower ASB (Masco/Delta) neoangle shower units

Reviewer (dryphusdog on Sept 15, 2013 stated: ---- I called the Manufacture and they told me to go to True Value or Ace Hardware and use a Caulk called LEXEL. It finally worked and stayed put. It is a little different consistency than most caulks and is harder to tool, but ---------- --Have a lot of strong paper towels for clean up of excess caulk. etc etc etc.

PS -- With ANY caulk installation pre-cleaning is very important. ALL previous caulk must be removed. The surface must me wiped CLEAN. Alcohol is usually very good for this -- (but maybe not on polystyrene). Test first.



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