Shower door caulk

I'm about to replace a shower door and I never want to see gobs of white caulk again. I want to see next to nothing at all, like a minimum of clear silicone and with hopefully none of that showing on the inside and nothing at all on the outside. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Reply to
Blue
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Need to know the door frame and entry materials. If it is aluminum against tile, you could use a sparingly applied bead of clear silicone sealant, cutting off just the tip of the nozzle for a fine line. There may also be a way to goop up the area behind the frame as it is installed, and wipe away excess, then screw the frame down to the tile.

Reply to
Roger T.

It is Aluminum against fiberglass. I'm hoping to liberally apply behind the frame toward the inside and strip away what oozes out inside. What would be the best way to strip away the exess?

Reply to
Blue

No. Make sure it is CLEAN - wipe with straight bleach and dry before beginning. Tape the edges before you caulk, removed tape as soon as you have put in the caulk. Clear silicone is nice. Don't "goop up" between the frame and the fiberglass - unless you want to stand in puddles of goop when you get out of the shower. More is not better. Don't ask how I know :o)

Reply to
Norminn

Use masking tape.

Reply to
William W. Plummer

I think norminn is right, and sounds like he's had a practical reason why

*not* to fill the frame with silicone. It's likely better to keep from filling the back of the frame with goop. Just mount frame on fiberglass, and apply narrow bead of clear silicone caulk along the shower-side joint. If you don't like the look of the gap on the outside, you could apply a small bead of acrylic caulk, which you can find in various colors.. Silicone seems to resist mold/mildew better than the paintable caulks, so that would be best inside the stall. Everyone has his own way of making a neat line with caulk, ranging from using finger, masking tape, smoothing tool, etc. I just squeeze it on in a pushing action, with minimal nozzle opening, and it looks great, without messing further with it. Also, I second the advice that you have to have both surfaces super clean for silicone to "take" and be waterproof. I use Fantastic, rinse, dry, then alcohol or some other solvent to etch the plastic wall slightly.
Reply to
Roger T.

She :o)

Reply to
Norminn

When we changed doors I had to do the caulking. I found some at Home Depot in a tube like a toothpaste tube...it is lots easier to control than putting it on with a caulking gun. There is a clear that looks white when it is fresh and turns clear when dry. I had best results with it.

Reply to
Dorothy Roper

On the *super clean* issue, any tips on cleaning the old white caulk? Just scraping or does anything soften it up?

One thing I have learned from the past is to pay special attention to the junctions at the bottoms of the vertical members. Probably can't get *too* much caulk under the ends of the horizontal member to seal that. Again, visible silicone on the exposed part of those two joints also eventually looks bad.

Reply to
Blue

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