Help! I screwed up while caulking!

[MAG]

Hi folks-

The tub installation and retiling job is nearly complete. Today I caulked the two vertical wall seams and around the four soap-dish-shelf things in the corners with "Color Caulk" sanded latex caulk.

Short story: I got the vertical seams OK, but around the tile-to- soapdish joins it looks AWFUL. I think I want to remove as much caulk as possible from the soapdish area, and re-caulk with clear silicone sealant.

At first I thought I could scrape it away while still wet, and to some extent I can, but it started smearing all over and making a mess. A worse mess, that is. In the process I got some in the nearby grout seams. The caulk is a lighter color than the grout and so the smeared caulk looks bad there.

Any tips for cleaning up the mess?

I'm figuring to wait until it is reasonably dry, then go in with a razor knive and cut / scrape out as much as possible. But I'm not sure how to fix the grout seams that have been contaminated. The grout was sealed with TileLab Penetrating sealant (earlier today).

What do you think? Dremel tool? Solvent of some sort?

Help!

Marc

[Jim]

use Vinegar.....does wonders for caulk...specially green stuff ....

[cm]

Marc,

If you really want a mess use silicone. That stuff is horrible to clean up wet or dry. IMHO It's way over-rated when you weigh its good and bad points.

AZCRAIG

[MAG]

Hmm... I understand your point! But, do they make a colorless latex caulk? I've decided that to minimize the visual ugliness, I want to go clear around the soapdish.

Mar

[Norminn]

It isn't that hard to caulk around the soap dish. Lay down some painter's tape for straight lines. Run a bead of caulk, smoothe it with your finger, remove the tape. Putting the tape on carefully, and smushing it down into the grout line will keep caulk from oozing under the tape. Worked great on our floor when I caulked around the baseboards (which kept a broken washer hose from flooding the place as badly as it would have).