Prep/Re-caulk bathtub

[Puddin' Man]

Re: Prep/Re-caulk bathtub

'allo,

Apologies for the FAQ: what little I knew of proper surface-prep /caulking I likely forgot years ago.

I think I've got a pretty much standard tiled bath/shower such as was commonly installed in the midwest in the 50's.

Tub was caulked maybe 15 years ago. There is black stuff, presumably mildew, *under* the caulk. Spraying with anti- mildew cleaners has no effect. I'm thinking the surface- prep was insufficient, wish to avoid such when I re-caulk.

I've been looking at:

just to get an idea of what I'm up against. :-)

What might I need to do to get a proper prep/re-caulk job done on a bathtub? What is caulk remover? Are the steps on the GE site a good outline of what needs be done?

TIA, Puddin'

****************************************************** *** Puddin' Man PuddingDotMan at GmailDotCom *** ******************************************************;

[Dorothy Roper]

The GE web site is interesting. I have scraped out a lot of caulk but I have never even heard of caulk remover. If you find any please post to this board...sure would love to have some.

What I did was take a razor blade and putty knife and scrape out what I could - cut out what I couldn't scrape - cleaned with alcohol when I finished. This was silicon caulk. The older kind is a little different but think you do it the same way. Be sure to clean with Clorox when you finish.

[John Harlow]

Allow me to insert the following step:

6.5 - Observe that your new caulk application looks like hell. You had a hard time getting an even bead on and now in your attempt to "smooth" it with a wet finger it's smeared all over the tub. 6.6 - jump to step 2. Repeat steps several times until you finally get it to where it doesn't look like a pigeon took a dump on your bathtub.

[Mikepier]

Use masking tape to prevent overcaulking