Caulk the Line
One of the most common home maintenance projects you can find yourself facing is repairing dried and cracked caulk lines in your shower. It’s not really a fun job, and in fact if you’re anything like us, it’s really easy to put off for another day.
We obviously could not put this guy off any longer. So last night we finally got our tools together and said no to crack – and it was pretty easy too,
All you need is a caulk gun which can run you as little as $3, a tube of caulk which will run you a couple bucks more and a putty knife or caulk tool to use to clean out the old grimy caulk first.
Yes, that adorable brown and white blur behind our caulk removal tool is Lucy, watching safely from the bedroom. She doesn’t like to get too close to the shower or the bath tub.
Clean and dry your surface, cut away at all the old caulk, and clean up again. Once you have nice exposed cracks, use your caulk and gun to fill in the gap. We also recommend keeping a glass of hot water handy to dip your finger in and then run along your caulk line to clean it up.
Give it plenty of time to dry (follow the drying time specific to your caulk, but 24 hours is a good rule of thumb) and presto you’re done. You’ll be crack free in no time.
The only real decision involved is what caulk to buy. Your choices are usually white or clear, so choose based on your shower’s tile and grout color. Also make sure you buy kitchen and bath caulk so that it actually repels the excessive moisture rather than just fill seams like window and door caulk would do.
Finally, choose either silicon or acrylic. Silicon is sticky. Really sticky. So sticky it’s annoying. You’ll likely make a mess of your hands and we’ll just say it – silicon rubber caulk smells like arse. There you have it. But we use it because it seems to keep away the water best and looks shiny and clean. See:
It’s not really that intimidating of a project so we decided to hop to it, besides those cracks are breeding grounds for mold and grime. Yuck and yuck.
Looking for more quick and simple projects to keep your house going? Check out our DIY Page. Anyone else out there dealing with an unruly shower lately? Any self-proclaimed caulk experts with some tips to share? We’re all ears.
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