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Thanks for coming by. My pleasure. So up here is the bathroom that I mentioned in the email. Okay. About seven years ago, when we first moved into the house, there was evidence that the caulking needed to be redone around the tub. There was some evidence of maybe some water getting by. Evidence meaning you saw signs of water leaking downstairs? Exactly. Okay. So they replaced it, and seven years later it's showing signs that it needs to be done again. So I ripped it out and put some caulking on. I went a little heavy on it. I feel like I could do a better job in terms of getting it on, but also having it all look like I got one of my kids to do it. So will you tell me you want to try to take this out and recaulk it? If we could, yeah, that'd be great. Yeah, we can definitely do that. All right, so why don't I get some tools? We can scrape it out, clean it out, and re-caulk.
All right, Beth, that looks good. Whenever I'm working on a tub, I like to cover it with a drop cloth or something to protect it, so the tub doesn't get scratched. Also, if any debris is scraped off the wall, whether it's caulking or grout, you don't want that old stuff to fall down the drain and clog it, right? Okay. So I brought a bunch of different tools, and you can try whatever works best. We just want to get all the old stuff out. We have to scrape it off the tub and off the wall and make a nice clean joint, or the caulking won't stick. Okay.
So now I just push that right down in there, keep the angle low, and slide it to the left. See how it cuts it? There you go. There you go, perfect. Multiple passes is good too, so just slide it easily. Don't turn it too steep. You're pushing into it, so you want to keep it at no, the other way, like that, so you're sliding across it. Maybe two hands might work too. Okay. Yeah, looks like you got some older caulk, and underneath that, that wasn't cleaned up. Yeah, that's entirely a possibility. Yeah. All right, that looks pretty good. So why don't we try to remove this caulking right here along this side of the top? I think you've sliced it up pretty much all the way. You might have to go over that one more time, but let's slice it on the wall again. I want you to do the same thing: take it, put it flat against the wall, bring it out a little bit. You also want to tilt it so it slices the caulking as we go along. So I'm pushing it down, slicing into the caulking well, right across the wall like that, keeping that outside corner up. Okay.
So now all we want to do is use a little bit of alcohol and wipe everything down. We want to make sure we have our fan on and plenty of ventilation. All right, so you get a nice straight bead across the top here. We're going to run a piece of painter's tape, and I want to keep it about a quarter inch away from the wall. Go do the same thing on the wall.
All right, Beth, I know if you've gone to the hardware store or home center and bought caulking, there's a lot of different choices up there. There really are. They have caulking for big gaps, small gaps, interior, exterior, paintable, and non-paintable. But for your bathroom, we're going to use this caulking right here. It's a hundred percent silicone. Now, what's silicone as opposed to a different material? Well, number one, it sticks great on non-porous surfaces, and you have non-porous surfaces. It also is mold and mildew resistant, and silicone stays flexible. So when the walls move from different temperature changes, the silicone will flex with it and stay stuck to the wall.
Well, to apply it, we're going to use this gun right here. This is a standard caulking gun. It has a handle; you pull it. That little plunger right there will push down on the end of the tube, pushing this plastic piece down the tube and forcing the caulking out the end. Now, a lot of people don't realize that right here on the handle there's this little cutter. So when I squeeze the trigger like that and put the end in there and squeeze it, it'll cut the tip wherever you want. Okay.
Now, another thing you have to do: I'll show you now, this caulking unscrews at the tip. You need to break that little piece of foil in there, or it's very hard to get it out of the gun. So we have to break that seal. To do that, we can use this little wire right here. Push it down the tube, that breaks the seal, push it back, and then you can get the caulking out of the gun easily. There you go. Okay.
So the first thing we do is put the caulking tube in the gun with a little bit of tension on it, and now I want to cut the end off with my knife, because I like to do it with my knife rather than the cutter that's on the handle. Okay. So now I want to cut the end off. I could cut it anywhere I want, but I want to cut it up high so I have a very little opening. It's always better to experiment first with a smaller one, and I can always go back and cut it larger. So if I cut it like that, okay, now that I've cut it, I pull the wire out, take the tube out, push it in here, and break the seal. Okay, when talking on the end, I know I went through the seal. Put it back in the gun, and now we're ready to put the caulk on the wall.
Okay, so what I want you to do is, I'm going to give you the caulking. I want you to take it into the corner, and I want you to hold the caulking gun level. I don't want you to pitch this way or that way, and I want you to move the whole time you're squeezing that trigger. Okay, so don't squeeze it too hard, don't move it too slowly, and don't move it too fast. How does that look? It looks pretty good. So just go for it. Squeeze the trigger, keep going. That's a nice bead. Slowly move it, don't push too hard against the wall. Okay, there you go. See, yeah, it's pushing. Now let it stay against the wall. Yeah, go right down, keep going all the way down. Okay, I suppose it's going to need another one. I'll let it go, and let it go, keep going, not just keep moving. Move this hand closer to the tip. Oh, okay, there you go. See, you have better control there. Oh yeah, and you can let that handle go and squeeze it anytime you want. Okay, yeah, you're doing great.
Now what I want you to do is take your finger, put it in the corner, and gently touch the caulking, and then just move it down nice and even. Try not to stop, don't put too much pressure. If it's oozing out of the tape, light it up nice. Keep going, right there. Now you see how you fill that void? I do. Okay, good. Good, let's go across the back part. I'll push a little against the wall. Okay, good, there you go. Push it right in. That's it, nice. Keep the gun level. Push it right around, keep going, don't stop. Okay, good.
All right, so now the caulking is still wet, and I want to tear off all this tape, and I want to tear it off quickly. Okay, so now I'm just going to start at the top and remove the tape right up and away.
All right, well, I think the caulking looks great, and you did a fantastic job. Well, thank you. I feel like I really did the proper technique this time. It looks good. Now, the caulking cannot get wet for 30 minutes. It also takes 24 hours to cure, so you can take a shower, use the tub, whatever you want, but don't touch it for much.
My pleasure, I'm glad I could help. Thanks for watching. This Old House has a video for just about every home improvement project, so be sure to check out the others. And if you'd like, you can click on the subscribe button to make sure you get our newest videos.