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I didn't want to purchase a new shower door kit as we plan on remodeling the bathroom in the next five or so years, so I had to deal with the horrible old existing sliding doors and track. The bottom track is not just an edge with a small guide for the hanging doors; it has two tracks that run it's entire length. It is a pain to clean as the shower enclosure is not quite level, so water accumulates on the low side. Below is an image similar to the style of bottom track:

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I drilled an additional drain hole to allow more water out near the low side, but I still have to deal with the joint between the track and the vertical side piece. I didn't want to mess with silicone sealant as the clean up is a pain so I used ACE Hardware brand tile and tub acrylic caulk, which has worked great around the sinks in my kitchens and bathrooms.

I let the caulk cure for three days as stated on the tube and I noticed that in that low corner where water is standing for many hours after taking a shower, it is dissolving. Any thoughts on why this is happening? Is this to be expected? Will silicone stick to the acrylic caulk? Can I dry it out and use silicone on top of the corner now to get me by for several years? Would a marine epoxy be a better solution in that corner?

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Acrylic caulks and paints, etc. are water-based. If you can clean them up easily with water than that's a pretty good sign that they are water-soluble.

Your caulk should be water-proof if fully cured. If you applied the caulking very thick or if the temperature is cool, it could take longer than the specified time to cure. Also, I don't think these are designed to be used in a situation of standing or pooling water.

"Will silicone stick to the acrylic caulk? Can I dry it out and use silicone on top of the corner now to get me by for several years? Would a marine epoxy be a better solution in that corner?"

You should have used 100% silicone. If you can find an epoxy that is flexible, then that might also be an option. That joint should not be solid/rigid.

Since you don't want to redo it, you should wait longer to see if it is just not fully cured. If still no good, you can try silicone over the acrylic caulk to help prevent it from dissolving. However, since that is just going to be a thin layer instead of a full bead it will be hard to guarantee a good seal.

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  • At this point, I am not going to tear it all down and clean it up again to start over. The bathroom, nor the shower, are the nice enough to warrant this. I can't just take the bottom track off either, as the vertical sides prevent that.
    – Evil Elf
    Feb 13, 2013 at 18:04
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    The issue is the fact that I can't get to the corner in question. It is at the corner of track and I can barely even get my finger in there. The track is so poorly designed but I did not want to spend money on a new door kit that I might not use in a few years. I went through so much work to prep the area and I can't imagine doing it again for this setup. It simply isn't nice enough to devout that kind of time too yet again. My guess is that 3 days simply wasn't enough time or it to cure.
    – Evil Elf
    Feb 13, 2013 at 18:53
  • Update: I dried the area for two days, reapplied the same caulk, and let it cure for 4 days. It not very thick, I figure maybe a quarter inch in the corners and only the size of a dime. After a week of standing water, it is dissolving again. I purchased a tube of 100% silicone to see if that will work.
    – Evil Elf
    Feb 27, 2013 at 18:31

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