How to Caulk a Bathtub with Beautiful Results

hi folks my name is Leah and today I'm going to show you how to replace caulking around tub it that's gone bad as you can see it's it's starting to fray and it's even as mold so we want to clean that out of there and put down some fresh caulking so let me show you the tools you're going to need you're going to need some compressed air a razor blade scraper you don't have to have a dremel but I'll tell you it's very convenient and a scraper now this is what we're going to use for the removal of the old caulking when it comes time to recaulk then I'll show you the tools you will need for that okay I'm going to use the Dremel first and again like I said you don't have to have one of these tools but oh my goodness they're so handy the blade is just the scraper blade now I can't talk on the gemelas on because you never be able to hear me but one of the things that I want to say is when you when you're working with the Dremel alright okay so there's a lip on the other side of the tile okay so you don't have to worry about going all the way through you're not going to because that little lip is the tub so now I want to demonstrate with just a scraper it's a lot harder and you would do the same thing along the bottom as best you can so you gotta use you've got to use some elbow grease as you can see it's it's not that easy to go through with just a regular scraper but it can be done so I've successfully cut through most of the caulking now it's time to to remove it okay and as you can see some of it has already started to come out on its own so we may have to tug it most of it comes awake very freely make certain that you're careful that you don't chip the the ceramic tile now I'm going to use a razor knife here to get some of the residue you know there's some residue here that you can't get up with the with the Dremel and so if you you use a razor knife I like these because you know it holds a safety razor and then only cost 99 cents and it's so convenient for doing a job just like this one now what we're going to do is we're going to spray away all the debris I like to use the Duster that you would use on a computer board because it's perfect for tight areas we're going to shake it up pretty well and let's just go okay so now all I'm gonna do is just clean all the residue off just in case there's a little soap scum I've done a pretty good job of cleaning the tile off and now I'm just gonna clean the tub off as well help the the new-look caulk but here but that's if we've got a clean surface just like with anything to do now the next thing you're going to need is you're going to need blue masking tape for blue painters tape this is going to make the caulking job less messy and look more professional you're going to be amazed when we pull off the tape just how clean it will look okay so we're going to place the tape oh just like so okay so you want the tape to be about a quarter or half inch away no more than a half inch they'll do the same thing for the tile [Applause] now it's time to move on to the caulking portion of the job let me just draw your attention to a couple of products move on in this is a silicon want to use silicon and you want to use a silicon with a with mildew protection both these products have mildew protection and you also want to make certain that you're using silicon cuz that's really designed for water now I have the tube silicon tub and tile that you insert into a caulking gun and I have the kind that you just take off the cap and squirt you know depending upon whether or not you want to invest in a caulking gun or you just want to invest in a product that's a personal decision but I'm going to show you how to use both regardless of which product you use you're gonna have to cut the tip off with a utility knife now the next two items I have here is a spoon and a pair of gloves you really don't need either but let me tell you it's so convenient and this is why with silicon once it gets on your hands very very difficult to get off because it's not soap and water cleanup so you want to protect your hands a lot of people you don't like to put silicon on with their finger tip with a wet finger tip nothing wrong with that but again silicon is a very difficult substance to get off your hands so what I like to do is I like to use rubber gloves if I'm using my finger to smooth out the clock or you can just use a plastic spoon now I'm going to show you how to load the caulk gun I've cut off the tip and you car cutters come with this a lot of them do now there are some that do not but many of them come with a little tool would you pull up and you insert that into the tip of the clock and that breaks the plastic seal if you don't do that you can pull the trigger on a gun forever and nothing is gonna come out to tip so I want to clean that off and it's always a good idea they have some paper towels available so I'll clean it off put it back so now I'm going to show you how to load the caulk gun it's easy pull back on it like so and you insert your caulking and have to pull back on it so it fits in this little lip here push it back on the handle and once you're ready to go all you have to do is pull the trigger now I'm going to show you how to lay down the tape come on in close you want to run your finger across the edge of the tape to make certain that it's secure and that no caulking bleeds through because what's gonna happen is when you start to pull the tape you don't want you want a nice clean line and this is going to ensure that okay so now it's time to demonstrate the tube tight this is the just the caulking that you squirt it in so I'm gonna do the small section first let's show you how it's done you want to do is you want to lay down a generous bead and that's what we're gonna do here just laying down a generous bead now there's a little gap underneath the tile you want to make certain that you put enough in to fill the gap don't worry that it's not smooth okay because we're going to come back over it now I'm going to show you how to finish the caulking that we just applied I'm going to the first method I'm going to show you is the water and finger method so you want to dip your finger you want to submerge it in water and now we're gonna use the finger to go over the caulking but again it's so very very important to use water and you want to have a paper towel handy because it can get messy and you want to confine your movement to inside the tape don't get any caulking on the bathtub because then it's going to be very difficult to clean up and that's why we have tape down so let me show you how it's done here we go okay now we're going to do the spoon method and you want to dip that plastic spoon and water and you want it to be a clean spoon so here we go okay so I've got this build up of what we cleaned off as we you know we drew the spoon across the caulking and you always want to work with a clean spoon so you want to make certain that I got another paper towel because I want to make certain that that that spoon is clean you don't want any caulking residue on it because it will interfere with the finished product I'm going to show you now how to use the gun I prefer the gun method because you're really able to move quickly come on in close let me show you want to set up your tip where you're going to apply the caulking pull the trigger of the gun take a look at the gun trigger this is it pull that trigger and just squeeze and go you want to dip that spoon in water start at the corner and apply pressure here we go okay now we've got this section down the side of the table we need to do as well and I gotta tell you it gets kind of tricky trying to transition new into something that you've already done even though it's just been a matter of minutes that silicon is starting to set so I wish there was some trick that I could teach you or demonstrate on how to transition it in but there just isn't you just have to do the best you can so make certain that spoon is clean dip it in water and get ready to go here we go that's it now folks I have a very important tip once you lay the clock down you have to pull that tape II immediately don't wait don't wait 10 minutes don't wait 15 minutes pull it immediately because if you don't you're gonna have a mess that top layer of caulk will start to set and it will be wet underneath you'll just have a mess trust what Lee is telling you pull that tape so you pull the remove the tape like so and notice a nice clean line at leaves go slowly so the job is finished and I gotta tell you this is the kind of job that you want you don't want to pay someone else to do for you because the materials cost so little and I'm not even certain yet be able to get somebody out to do it and this is Lea saying you can do this see you next time you

Channel: seejanedrill

Views: 2,096,412

Rating: 4.7915721 out of 5

Keywords: bathtub, Tools, Easy, Beginner, Techniques, Home Repair, How To, Diy, Home Repairs, Tool, Tips, caulk, Technique, Tools Operation, Bathroom, Tools Demonstration, Plumbing, home improvement, Simple, caulk gun, caulking gun, silicone, tutorial, tricks, caulking, do it yourself, caulk bathtub, bathtub caulking, how to caulk, replace caulk, replace caulking, caulking tips, caulking technique, easy caulking, step by step, caulking instruction, caulking help, silicone caulk, caulking techniques

Id: eLnVB-u0txs

Length: 12min 48sec (768 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2013