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There was this part of our bathtub that had developed more than it’s fair share of mildew — it had grown gradually from a few little spots to an unsightly world of moisture-rich brownish mildewed ugliness. There were some cleaning products that stunted its growth a bit, but nothing that removed it fully. I’d been tinkering with the idea of cleaning out that old stuff and recaulking that area, but the whole ordeal seemed a bit overwhelming for my white collared brain and dainty fingers — I had been caulk blocking — so yesterday evening, I ‘man’ed up and had my first DIY caulking experience — the Mrs. was out of town on business, and I figured it was the perfect time to test out some dormant man-skills. I thought I would share my experience in case anyother non-handypersons like myself wanted to give it a go.

Preparation

I read up on what was needed for the process — this Popular Mechanics article was a big help Based on the article, here’s what I purchased at the local home improvement conglomerate’s place of business:

Painter’s 5-in-1 tool - Highly recommended — has all kinds of ways for gutting out the old stuff)

Box cutter (with extra blades) — great for slicing into the old stuff / scraping out goobies

Plastic putty knife — won’t cut up your bathtub like a box cutter might (not that I did — I’m just saying)

Cleaner (with bleach) — did a terrific job in cutting down mildew. One important thing that I read everywhere is to NOT mix an ammoniated cleaner with bleach — that’s like crossing the streams (e.g. Ghostbusters) It’s bad. Your lungs will die. Of course, we learned that crossing the streams was what saved the Ghostbusters in the end, but in this situation that won’t work.

Latex & Silicone Caulk Remover (softened up the caulk a bit, making it a LITTLE easier to pull out — honestly, I’m not sure if I even needed this — it was still pretty difficult even after using this stuff)

Caulk + Caulk gun — who knew there were different sizes of caulk guns? I did not. Fortunately I chose wisely and got the regular sized — but there is a ‘professional’ sized version as well — don’t pay extra for that junk. I also got a caulk with a ‘fungicide’ — some brands call it “Microban” — helps keep the bad stuff out and good stuff in.

Things to Keep In Mind

1. The area you’re going to work in has to be completely dry — so be sure to do this in the evening or after everyone has had their shower, if you’re caulking a tub/shower area.

2. You’ll have to skip a shower, because it’ll take about 24 hours for everything to dry. (The main reason I chose to do this while the lady of the manor as out of town)

Cleaning

So after scraping out the old caulk as best you can from the corners, sides, etc. — you’ll want to put some cleaner down on it… I got this stuff, Clorox Clean-Up — it works well — just make sure the windows are open and/or things are well ventilated. Scrub whatever goobies are left with an abrasive plastic pad then rinse and dry it all off with a clean rag, because now it’s almost caulkin’ time!!

Loading the Caulking Gun

Yes I actually looked up how to load a caulking gun, on the Internet — because for some reason the self-checkout machine at Home Depot couldn’t explain it to me. So here’s the video I found but it failed to mention one very important detail:

In addition to cutting off the tip of the caulk, you’ll need to BREAK THE SEAL. There is most likely a seal piercing tool on your caulking tool — poke your nozzle into it after you cut your tip off - that’s what she said.

I learned that you had to pierce the seal the hard way. I had loaded my caulk into the gun, pumped it a zillion times with nothing coming out — then removed the caulk to see it completely imploded. Fortunately I had a backup handy. Hopefully that will save you another trip to the store.

Caulkin’ Time
Once you start squeezing the handle on the caulking gun, that squirting won’t stop until you press the release (pressing the little metal bracket and the handle closest to the back of the gun) so make sure you know the path you want to take with the caulk. Be generous but not too generous — you want to make sure you have a good seal, but you don’t need caulk everywhere.

Once you’ve got a good stream of caulk set, with a paper towel run it along your path to smooth it all out. That’s it! Sit back, let it dry and blog about your caulking adventures to anyone who cares.