Thursday, November 06, 2008

Third Time's A Charm

That's what I'm hoping about the caulking in the bottom of our shower. Casey noticed several months back that the original caulking at the bottom of the shower was pulling away from the tile and letting water behind it. Not good. So, after putting off the task for a good long while, we finally got in gear and stripped the old caulking and put in a new seal.

Fast foward to last Friday...I put the THIRD round of caulking on the bottom of our shower. You might say that I didn't do a very good job the first two times if I'm recaulking our shower for the third time in a few months. And you'd be right. But the bigger problem was the caulk I was using. It was made to look like grout. That's good because it looked nice and matched perfectly. But it was also not made to "withstand prolonged water exposure." Fine Print. Blah. Yes, so I was using the wrong caulk. I offically hate caulking now. And next time (hopefully there won't be a next time) we'll be calling the professionals.

But on the positive side...if there is a positive side, I now have a handfull of tips if you ever need to recaulk anything in your house:

1. Buy the correct product and read ALL fine print before begining job.

2. Remove all old caulking. A razor blade used in box cutters is handy for this.

3. The first key to a good application is to use a light hand when pulling the caulk trigger. In other words, use less caulk than you think.

4. The second key to a good application is to use a light finger when pressing the caulk to finish it off. If you press hard, you'll create too large of a caulking line.

5. The third key to a good application is to use a damp finger when pressing the caulk. I kept a small bowl of water to dip my finger in and a paper towel to tap it on before touching the caulk. This keeps the caulk looking smooth and nice and keeps it from sticking to your finger excessively.

6. And finally, let the caulk dry completely (according to directions). The wait is worth it.

2 comments:

Kaitlin said...

I wish the people that did the caulking job in my apartment read your tips. It's horrible! They broke tip #3. Those lines are huge! Not that attractive.

Brooke said...

This is what we (well, mainly Michael...I tried to help) did this weekend! What a job! Can't believe you did it three times!