There are certainly many types of caulk in the market place. I won’t even attempt to suggest the dfferent types for the different jobs in this writing but will definitely suggest you not only ask the store "technician" but read the labels and guarantees yourself. If you have a professional painter on the job, inquire as to what products he or she is using where and why, so you will know how to keep it up along the way. Even a good strong flexible caulk will expand and contract with the heat of summer and cold of winter. Especially on the exterior of your home–and it will be in your best interest to annually review and fill cracks which will occur from the shrinking of the caulk after application.
It is important to read the label on a tube of caulking to out if it is "paintable", if it will be painted after curing; and that it states it is for exterior use when using outdoors. Many will indictae Indoor/Outdoor. If the condition is particularly "stubborn" (exterior heavy sun, wind and water) then do dilligent research on the best product to use or you will be fighting it each season rather than merely a tune- up when necessary.
So…how to use your caulk for do-it-yourselfers. For the purposes of this discussion I will only be talking about acrylic caulk (with or without silicone in it) and 100% silicone caulk. I’ll get the 100% silicone off the list, and the hands, and the pants, and the wall, and the rags, and the hair and the shoes…first. The hardest part about using 100% silicone is that it is not water soluble, which of course is what it is for: it is totally what you use where water intrusion could be a problem.
100% silicone is very gooey and sticks to everything! (OK, except dirt which is rule #1: Clean before you Caulk). Before you start, have a very good idea of what you are going to do. Determine how big of a crack you are going to fill and cut the tip of your tube appropriately. Do not make the hole (cut) at the tip of the tube any bigger than necessary for the crack you are filling. It is much easier to add more, than to wipe the excess away. Give the tip an angled cut also. There is a ring on the tip showing the angle to cut it at.
Where possible, wipe the area clean with Denatured Alcohol before caulking. Have some alcohol on a rag handy as well (not water). After you run a bead of material in the crack, work it in and shape it with your finger keeping your finger just a little damp with the alcohol (rub it on the rag). Then clean excess off with the alcohol rag. 100% silicone is one of the toughest caulking jobs to get right, so . . . just do your best. After it is cured you can sometimes “rub” excess off or carefully scrape with a sharp utility knife taking care not to scratch the surface.
Wow. Frankly I didn’t think I had that much to say about silicone. I probably could have made a whole page just on that subject! As a matter of fact I think I will add a couple things about silicone here and discuss acrylic caulking in a Part 2. I don’t want to put you to sleep all at once!
I just wanted to add that as mentioned, you use 100% silicone in the wet areas: sinks, tubs, showers, and some outdoor apps. It comes in a few different colors (including clear, if we want to call that a color) which is helpful. It has a distinctive “aroma” you won’t easily forget and it takes time to cure fully. It stays flexible, which is good and will generally pull away from the material it is on rather than crack, itself.
Often the “tune up” is placing more material between the cured bead and the surface it has lifted from. This is not an easy one to make look “good.” We have all seen the “gobs” of silicone placed over previous applications. If it is not going to look as good as you want, you may be better off removing the old caulk and doing it over from scratch … Now onto the “good stuff” in Part 2.
