Said It Here

Can you use silicone to seal gaps around a shower drain?

Applying bath silicone can temporarily seal gaps around a shower drain to mitigate water damage while delaying a full bathroom renovation. However, depending on the situation, the issue might require caulk, Flex Seal, or replacing a missing fixture or part.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Using bath silicone to temporarily seal gaps around the shower drain.
  2. 2
    Using flex seal
  3. 3
    Applying caulk
  4. 4
    Adding an escutcheon plate
  5. 5
    Grouting tile or replacing the shower

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/HomeMaintenance1 person · September 2026

I'm worried about water damage and wondering what the best way to go about fixing this is. Should we use flex seal? Caulk? Or is it a fixture/part we're missing?source ↗

Ahu_Janus · r/HomeMaintenance · 2 upvotes
r/homeowners1 person · September 2026

I'm wondering if I can use bath silicone to seal these gaps up around the shower drain for now? Unfortunately, I can't redo the bathroom yet, but I'm looking to mitigate any potential water damage.source ↗

Hot_Investigator_639 · r/homeowners · 2 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised