Caulking tip.

[Tollster]

I prefer a plastic spoon for a uniform finish, just bridge the wall and the tub/counter/sink/etc with the spoon and drag it, then wipe off the over burden with a rag. makes for a nice uniform finish.

 

[EddieWalker]

I do a lot of caulking and I'm very **** about how it looks. I've found the best results come from dipping my finger in a cup of water and working it in small sections at a time. You'll find that there is a sweet spot with how much water you want on your finger. You get it just right and the caulk spreads like butter. Not enough and it's still sticky. Too much and you end up with a mess. I also use as little as possible and add to it if I need to.

I've never tried blue tape. My thought is that I want my finger as slippery as possible. I also clean my hands fairly often when caulking to avoid any build up. How do you keep the caulk from building up on the tape?

Eddie

 

[kenmac]

Eddie, Have you ever used Eternabond caulk ? It's good stuff, but expensive and difficult to make it look good

 

[Cliff_Johns]

In my original post, I was talking about exterior siding and window type caulking jobs. For interior caulking, like around tubs or showers, perfection of bead is more important. I use the blue tape thing to fix problem areas and to push caulk into places where the gun just won't put a good effective bead. I can rub it into cracks and small splits etc.

Cliff

 

[crazyal]

I actually went to a 2 hour long class on how to install industrial sealants. It taught everything from how to apply it from the gun to mixing two part and color packs. When caulking you want to watch the front of the of the tip and not how smooth it looks coming out the back. Think of it like driving, you wouldn't look at where you been when driving down the road. You want to keep the gun at an angle that will push the caulk into the crack. The tip of the tube should be pushing the caulk slightly forward. Watch the size of the ball of caulk at the tip of the tube. Too big and it will spill over to the sides, too little and the bead of caulk will look thin and not get into the joint. The speed you move the tube at will determine how fast you need to squeeze the gun to keep the ball of caulk the correct size. If you take the time to learn out how to run a nice bead with the caulking gun you'll only have to do minor touch ups afterwards.

 

[Tollster]

I worked at a plant years ago where the managers would caulk welds on the tractor trailer frame that where missed during production, then paint over it once it tacked up, it appeared to be a weld and without touching it, I never would have known. I missed a DOT tag and was installing it out in the yard during lunch when I saw 3 white hats mingling around a finished frame. I hid out until they left, then wondered over to see what they were doing. Fortunately it was a bright day and I saw the difference in the wet paint band against the already dry painted frame. When I dabbed my index finger to see if the paint was wet, the caulked weld came with it.
It change my life and once I saw that, I became a quality inspector and paid to go to school on my own dime. That was 1986.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Here's my contribution, when done caulking screw a wire nut on the end of the tube to save the
rest for the next job.

 

[PILOON]

And my tip for a clogged tube end.
Screw a 3" screw into the plugged end and pull out the hardened 'plug'.

Also keep the cut off tapered tip and insert it reversed to save the remaining caulk in the tube.