Help! Help! Silicone caulk

Went to Lowe's (I know, should have gone to a paint store) and asked for caulk for my new (hardei plank) outside siding. They advised me to buy GE "Window & Door" 100% Silicone Sealant. After having applied 5 tubes of this stuff around all window trim, door trim, hardie plank edges etc. etc., I find that paint does not stick to silicone. Did not know that!!! I've painted the caulked seams 6 times already and the paint just retracts from the silicone in about 5-10 seconds.

I can live with the above on all the vertical trim seams, but, on the butt joints of the hardie plank, in the middle of the wall, the white blotches look pretty ridiculous.

Any advise appreciated. You're welcome to call me a fool etc., but please advise.

Thanks,

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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Peel off the white stuff and use the clear instead.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

That it correct, it does not. You have to get PAINTABLE type, which is a mix of silicone and latex. TMK all latex caulk is paintable.

Not sure how to fix this, but you could try putting small cover of paintable on the top of what you have and paint that. Try it first.

Rich

Reply to
RichK

Nothing to do with the paintability issue, I would not have used any silicone, in a year's time it won't be stuck anyway. Poorest possible caulking choice.

Your only choice now is to carefully razor blade the stuff off. You must get it all, paint will not stick to any version of it. I have not found any chemical or solvent that helps appreciably. You may need to slightly gouge the Hardie surface to get the silicone out of the pores.

Reply to
DanG

GE does make versions that are paintable. You just have to read the label... AFAIK there's nothing you can do to the existing caulk to make it paintable and silicone caulk does not stick to itself very well, so you'll need to remove the existing bead.

-- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Reply to
Rick Blaine

I've discovered if you wait a couple/few weeks it will weather & get dirt and dust on it, then the paint will cover it ok. DAMHIKT ;) MikeB

Reply to
bq340

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in news:4LiIi.4706$Ij2.3885@trndny06:

First thing I would have tried and have always wondered is what RichK said.

But Rick Blaine said

Might try a polyurethane that is paintable over the silicone. It's a crapshoot. Cost you $5-6 to find out.

PL Polyurethane® Window, Door & Siding Sealant

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Another I've used is Henry 900 Construction & Flashing Sealant

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* Superior adhesion for roofing, flashing and construction applications * Most flexible and durable sealant available * Paintable

Both I've painted over fine but never tried it over silicone. Best I can give ya.

Reply to
Al Bundy

Sorry to hear that. You in trouble!!! The first mistake was using GE caulk. The stuff is JUNK. I got suckered into using the same stuff, only the GE caulk that I had was "paintable" silocone caulk. Yea, right. The paint fish-eyed and looked like crap. I also tried the "white" version of the same stuff. It turned clear when it dried. GE CAULK IS GARBAGE!! AVOID IT AT ALL COST!!

Your best bet would have been to use pre-painted hardie plank with a matching tri-polymer sealant. They have color-matched caulk avaliable for the stock colors of hardie-plank.

If this mess were mine (and I'm glad it's not) I would remove the silicone caulk, and paint. Hopefully the silocone has not contaminated a large area that causes more fisheyes. After painting, I would then re-caulk with a latex or tri-polymer color-matched caulk.

Good Luck!!

Reply to
J.A. Michel

I agree. I have done this several times. Pure silicone is the best caulk money can buy, but the painting issues are a problem. Another tip. I found that if I apply spray paint over the caulk, and let it dry, the house color paint will adhere to the spray paint. I used silver "aluminum paint". Just a cheap generic spray paint is what I used. Give this a try. The spray paint is only a dollar a can at Walmart.

Reply to
alvinamorey

Silicone caulk is just dandy in certain applications - bathrooms for instance - but it is far from the best caulk money can buy for every application. In the OP's case it is the absolute worst choice. In the commercial building trades silicone caulk is used for metal, tile and glass applications - like storefronts and curtain walls - but polyurethane caulk is used for the critical joints in masonry, which is what Hardiboard is.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Plan now to remove every board in contact with the silicone sealant. If this means doing over the whole job, so be it. in a word, you're scr*wd. When the boards are off, get rid of every trace of the stuff, razor blades where you can see it, methylene chloride paint stripper on the thin films. Might even be a good idea to re-cover the area with Tyvek to avoid further trouble. Sincere sympathy on this mishap and good luck.

Joe

Reply to
Joe

I don't know that GE is any better or worse than other brands, but I think the caulk that dried clear was supposed to... several brands now offer a clear caulking that goes on white, but dries clear (easier to see when you're applying it... and works pretty well, imo)

One suggestion to to try to find a colour matching caulk and apply it over the existing caulk - I think silicone will stick to itself okay if it's pretty fresh... good luck!

Reply to
maurice

Good grief. I'm surprised you didn't tell him to demolish the house and build a new one !!!!!

All he has to do it let the silicone weather for a year and it can be painted, or try the spray paint method.

Reply to
alvinamorey

I've got silicone sealant on one of my buildings that was applied in

1974 and paint still won't stick to it. It is plain clear silicone, nothing fancy. Perhaps the weathered product you claim successs with was really another polymer altogether. There is general agreement in the industry that silicones and paints are not happy partners. Stop by and chat with the lads in a body shop sometime if you need some horror stories abut the problem.

Joe

Reply to
Joe

The stuff I used was 100% pure silicone. It was out in the weather and could be painted a year later. Ok, there were a few fish eye spots, but nothing I'd lose sleep over. This June I applied some silicone between a metal roof and the wood facia board on a shed. The old fashined corrigated metal allowed moisture to enter, which caused the old facia board to rot. I replaced the board and applied the silicone. When I went to paint the new facia boards, the paint would not adhere to the clear silicone, so I had an ugly strip of bare wood showing. I took a can of aluminum paint (cheap Walmart stuff) and painted the silicone, since the metal was silver anyhow. After it dried, I painted the wood again with the latex paint and it covered well, but left a few fisheyes again, but very few. This is just based on personal expreience. The silicone was also from Walmart, and said

100% silicone, and I know what it smells like, and it was definately silicone. I should also mention that I applied it to a barn roof and put the caulk around almost every loose nail head. The following year I painted the entire roof with an oil based silver paint in gallon cans. 99% of the silicone was painted when I finished the job.
Reply to
alvinamorey

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