I bought a twelve pack of silicon caulk about 2 years ago and used right. I have 4 tubes never opened never broken the seal. How long will they last? Today I opened one up and nothing is coming out. Sticked a long nail in it and it's semi-hard near the nozzle...
I don't see an expiration date on these things. Shouldn't they last a little longer?
MC
If I warm-up my caulk, this sometimes will make the stuff come out.
Or if I keep squeezing my caulk, something will eventually come out.
You would think. Just be glad nothing is coming out. I used an old tube and the stuff never hardened. Now I have to dig it all out and redo it; caulk is cheap enough to toss old tubes. OTOH, just today I used a tube 6 months past the expiration date. Worked fine. The test is whether it smells like vinigar.
There are expiration dates, old silicone wont bond or cure right, not worth the headache tyring.
I have since quit buying more caulk than I need to save time. Now, I buy what I need when I need, and will save it for a bit. But if it is more than about six months old, I just go get new. I want to be sure it is going to work, and that is a small sacrifice to pay rather than having it sit in my shop for a long time and be hard or not stick.
Steve
I would not buy more caulk than could be used in a year. Same with woodworker's glue. However, it may last a bit longer. Bottom line is ask the manufacturer about shelf life.
Yeah, but how do you know the stuff you just bought is not old? I bought 4 tubes of silicone caulk, used them immediately (or tried to use them). I used part of the first tube and found it was junk. The stuff would not dry and just made a big cleanup mess. So, I opened the second and third tubes, more junk. I tool all of them, including my receipt back to the store, and told the store manager to open the
4th while I was there. The store manager insisted that if the caulk comes out of the tube, there is nothing wrong with it. I explained the fact it would not harden, they told me there is nothing they could do about that, and I should contact the manufacturer. I contacted the mfg and they asked me for a code number on the tubes. I gave them these numbers and they told me the stuff was expired, and was the fault of the store where I purchased it, and I should contact them. I explained they told me to contact the mfg. However I did contact the store again, and all they did was tell me to go back to the mfg.In other words, no one would stand behind the caulk. By this time I was so pissed off about the run-around, that I tossed it in the trash. However, I wrote a letter to my local lumberyard (where I bought the caulk), and told them why I will never do business with them again. Then I wrote to the mfg of the caulk and told them why I will never buy their caulk again. I never heard back from either.
That lumberyard used to get quite a bit of business from me. They lost all of it for about $15 worth of caulk. GE Silicone lost any future purchases from me.
At our house, they rarely last more than a day :o) Were you and Noah getting ready for the next flood? Jeesh, that's my hubby's economic style. I have had opened tubes last for months. Opened for small job and didn't want to throw it out, so I taped masking tape securely over the nozzle. Got a little hard in the tip, so I reamed it with a kabob skewer and it worked fine.
Sometimes they still look OK but the chemicals are affected and then they don't cure right. I used a latex caulk some time back that had been opened for months and it flowed right but won't cure after two days. I just threw out about 10 tubes of unopened caulk. Some of those I ordered by mail Phenoseal with specialty colors but after two years they are no good anymore.
MC
Until the next time you really, really, really need it for that last tiny amount to finish the job and all the stores are closed.
;-]
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