Off my chest: I hate CAULKING!

[JLawrence08648]

I started using a coping saw for inside moulding, now with the invention of a flap disk! terrific!

The main key to a good caulking job, but a very small angled hole in the caulking tip, smaller than you would think, and then, use little pressure allowing only a small amount to come out. If you do this, you will have almost nothing on your finger and a very small narrow not thick caulk line that will actually seal better because you were able to press down harder.

 

[pandus13]

plastic spoon, or old credit card
water + dish soap

 

[tom slick]

If this were the 1800's you'd be down at the pub complaining about the use of Oakum.

One other thing to keep in mind is that structures move and settle. Especially houses. The constant movement along with temperature swings cause caulk to break down.

I can hear the conversation; these new guys use jute instead of burlap and slather the oakum on everything. If they’d just thatch the roof correctly and use manure in the mix it would only leak a little and the seal wouldn’t depend on that danged oakum.

 

[JTK]

plastic spoon, or old credit card
water + dish soap

I've used those methods and for areas like around sinks, use painters tape to make clean, uniform edges on the calk bead.

Like said above, nothing worse than using $2/tube junk on critical joints on roofs, outdoor trim, siding, etc.

 

[nthach]

I'm helping my parents with a few tasks before painting - I told my dad to use DAP Dynaflex 230 waterbased latex or Sikaflex 1a/Sonneborn NP-1 polyurethane. Unlike silicone that's finicky to tool, the former(Dynaflex) is easy to tool and cleans up with water. Sikaflex is good stuff, but it cleans up with solvents and can cause an allergic reaction with your skin. I found using the smallest nozzle cut out does help with tooling. It's best to caulk before paint and use a paintable one. Silicone is bad for painting.

Most painters I've seen caulking are using DAP Alex Plus or Sherwin-Williams/Ben Moore caulk, which I wouldn't be surprised if DAP, Momentive(GE Silicones) or Red Devil makes it for them.

 

[PimTac]

I just had a project and used the DAP Dynaflex. It seemed to apply real nice and stay put too.

 

[CKN]

I started using a coping saw for inside moulding, now with the invention of a flap disk! terrific!

The main key to a good caulking job, but a very small angled hole in the caulking tip, smaller than you would think, and then, use little pressure allowing only a small amount to come out. If you do this, you will have almost nothing on your finger and a very small narrow not thick caulk line that will actually seal better because you were able to press down harder.

I actually just learned a foolproof method for caulking along baseboards or anywhere one can "mask off" with painters (blue) tape. You mask-say both sides of a baseboard where you want to lay caulk-you them proceed to perform the caulking-and then after you finish you pull the blue tape off-then you have a nice straight caulk line.

 

[Donald]

Does anyone have a favorite tool to finish the edge that is better than a finger? Do people really tape before caulking? That would seem to slow things down a lot.

 

[Amkeer]

Just use the water in the bucket with wet finger method. The tip needs to be cut small and the run less than 8' when tooling it with the finger. The only problem I have had over the years is after a while the skin on your finger will go away.

 

[Revving2Redline]

I liked the old 1100 Sherwin-William elastomeric caulking or Urethane.