How to Caulk Around a Bathtub | Ask This Old House

[Music] thanks for coming by my pleasure so up here is the the bathroom that I mentioned in the email okay so 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 mean you saw signs of water leaking downstairs exactly okay so they replaced it seven years later it's showing signs that it needs to be done again so I ripped it out 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 looked like I got one of my kids to do it so so will you telling 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 wreak all right all right Beth that looks good whenever I'm working on a tub I like to cover it with a drop cloth or something so to protect it so the tub doesn't get scratched and also if any debris is scraped off the wall whether it's caulking or 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 the best and we just want to get all the old stuff out so 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 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 huh there you go there you go perfect multiple passes is good too so just slide it easy don't don't turn it too steep so you're pushing into it so you want to keep it at no the other way like that so you're sliding across it and maybe two hands might work too okay yeah looks like you got some older coffee 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 slice it into the caulking well right across the wall like that keeping that outside corner up okay [Music] [Music] okay so now all we want to do is just a little bit of alcohol just 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 gonna run a piece of painters tape and I want to keep it about a quarter an 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 the home center and bought caulking there's a lot of different choices up there really are they have caulking for big gaps small gaps interior exterior paintable non paintable but for your bathroom we're gonna use this caulking right here it's a hundred percent silicone now what 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 forcing the caulking out the end ok 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 I put the end in there and squeeze it it'll cut the tip wherever you want okay now another thing you have to do is 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 right so we have to break that seal and 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 easy there you go ok ok so the first thing we do is I'll put the caulking tube in the gun a little bit of tension on it and now I want to cut the end off with my knife because I like to do with my knife rather than the cutter that's on the handle ok ok so now what I want to do is 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 ok now that I've cut it I pull the wire out take the tube out push it in here break the seal okay when talking on the end so I know I went through the seal put it back in the gun and now we're ready to put the copy on the wall okay so what I want you to do is I'm gonna 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 all the time you're squeezing that trigger I want you to move okay so don't squeeze it too hard don't move it too slow okay 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 note let it stay against the wall yeah go right down keep going all the way down okay keep those would suppose it's gonna need to give it another 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 Andrey squeeze it anytime you want okay yeah you're doing great I can't okay so 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 lighting 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 shot back part I'll push a little against the wall okay good there you go push it right in that there you go nice keep the gun level mm-hmm push it right around keep going don't stop okay good all right so now why 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 gonna 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 can not get wet for 30 minutes it also takes 24 hours for it to cure so you can take a shower use the tub whatever you want but don't touch it for 24 hours okay all right thank you so much my pleasure I'm glad I could help thanks for watching this whole house has got a video for just about every home improvement project so be sure to check out the others and if you'd like we can see click on the subscribe button make sure that you get our newest videos writing your feet

Channel: This Old House

Views: 804,733

Rating: 4.891798 out of 5

Keywords: TV Show, tom silva, caulk, tub, bathroom, This Old House, Ask This Old House, DIY, Home Improvement, DIY Ideas, Renovation, Renovation Ideas, How To Fix, How To Install, How To Build, Kevin o’connor, kevin o'connor house, kevin o'connor this old house, kevin o'connor ask this old house, kevin o'connor interview, tom silva this old house, tom silva house, tom silva construction, tom silva tools, tommy silva

Id: AcgErpZ_D0c

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2019