The sun is shining and summer is here in Minnesota! You know what this means at our house right? DIY PROJECTS! Do you have mold in your tub? Is it super icky? Ever wanted to know how to seal/caulk your tub and be mold free? You have come to the right place! That sounds like an infomercial!
This is the first post about our main floor bathroom refresh. There will be many more. We are going to be trying a bunch of new things in the bathroom and I can’t wait to share them with all of you! Check out this post for the bathroom refresh plan.
I am trying something new today and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Normally I would take pictures of the process along the way and write a post about them. For some projects that works great. Having something as good and satisfying as pulling off old tile and caulk and reinstalling something clean and beautiful felt like a video was the only way to share it with you all.
This is my first video so bear with me! Hopefully I will only get better with the video editing.
Here is the bathtub situation. I think the previous owners got sick of having mold at the bath tub to tile wall transition. I get that. Trying to keep mold out of your shower area can be really tough. Their answer was to install a rounded piece of tile to cover it up! That sounds great in theory. Practice not so much. What this did was create two horizontal seams at the top and bottom of the tile and vertical seams at the tile transitions. They also didn’t grout the rounded tile, they just caulked it. Caulk is used as a sealer. In fact, caulk also goes by the name sealant. It can’t bear any weight like grout. The tile started pulling away from the wall and coming off and water was getting behind the round tile. Presto chango, MOLD! Everywhere. EWWWW! Super gross.
As part of the bathroom refresh I removed the curved tile, caulked the seam and returned the tub to have a beautiful clean edge.
Check out the video! I have also included written steps in case you want to plan your own project!
HERE ARE THE STEPS TO REPLACE YOUR CAULK:
- Pop off tiles to expose the icky stuff behind the caulked round tiles.
- Scrape off as much caulk as you can with a v shaped tool without pushing too hard.
- Apply caulk softener/remover gel and smooth it over all of the remaining caulk that is stuck on the tile/tub.
- Wait. Wait. Wait. This is the hardest part!
- Scrape caulk off that has loosened. Repeat steps 3-5 as necessary.
- Scrape any small remaining caulk off with a razor blade.
- Spray area with Scrubbing Bubbles or you favorite tub/tile cleaner to get all of the remaining mold out of the corners and tub. Clean with a paper towel or towel. Do not drench in water because the area isn’t sealed.
- Wait for the areas to dry. You don’t want any moisture to get trapped behind the new caulk.
- Load caulk into caulk gun and while lightly squeezing the trigger run a fat bead along the seam.
- Run the caulk guide back over the seam to smooth it out. If you have a steady hand you could also use your finger. Caulk sets up pretty quickly so do this right after you apply it. Do steps 9-10 for each wall.
- Wait…again. Wait at least 24 hours before getting the caulk wet again.
- Congrats! I bet you have a beautiful tub! I know we sure do!
I describe the tools for the job in this video and they are also listed below for when you are thinking about doing this yourself!
Project Supplies:
–Heavy Duty Caulk Scraper
–Plastic Scraper (Areas the could be damaged by metal scraper)
–Caulk Remover Gel
–Razor blade and holder
-Scrubbing Bubbles
–Brushes (getting the mold out of the corner)
-Paper Towel
–New Caulk Tube
–Caulk Gun
–Caulk finish guide
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