Thing 20 - complete
Aug. 15th, 2010 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thingism20. Replace caulk in my shower
Completed 15 August 2010
In my defense, the caulk in my shower has been black and nasty since before we moved in. The previous owners evidently thought it'd be a good idea to just glop a new layer of caulk down without removing the old stuff. This caused some leakage problems when I first started using the shower because they'd blocked up the drainage holes in the track for the doors, meaning that any water that went into the tracks spilled out onto the floor rather than draining back into the shower. Brilliant, I tell you. (Of course, it didn't help matters that the door was installed crooked.)
Anyway, despite regular scrubbing with bleach, the caulk has always looked absolutely terrible. Some time ago we bought shower caulk tape, but knew removing the old stuff would be a huge job. This is where my husband's Dremel came in. After picking off the major chunks with a screwdriver, he sanded down the rest of it as best he could. The fact of the matter is that it's in pretty awful shape, and to completely repair it is outside our skill set. So we decided to use real caulk instead of the tape stuff. After a quick trip to Lowe's, I settled in for my very first experience with caulk. And man, was it messy. But I did it.
The Recaulkening
It's not pretty, and it won't be, but as long as it's sealed and it keeps the mildew at bay for a little while, that's fine. Ultimately we need to replace the entire shower, but that's not something my husband and I feel up to doing ourselves. I may see about hiring my dad to help.
So, since my actual goal was to replace the caulk, I'll considered this finished, but if we do end up replacing the shower, I'll post about that here too, since it's basically part of the same project.
To be continued...?
Completed 15 August 2010
In my defense, the caulk in my shower has been black and nasty since before we moved in. The previous owners evidently thought it'd be a good idea to just glop a new layer of caulk down without removing the old stuff. This caused some leakage problems when I first started using the shower because they'd blocked up the drainage holes in the track for the doors, meaning that any water that went into the tracks spilled out onto the floor rather than draining back into the shower. Brilliant, I tell you. (Of course, it didn't help matters that the door was installed crooked.)
Anyway, despite regular scrubbing with bleach, the caulk has always looked absolutely terrible. Some time ago we bought shower caulk tape, but knew removing the old stuff would be a huge job. This is where my husband's Dremel came in. After picking off the major chunks with a screwdriver, he sanded down the rest of it as best he could. The fact of the matter is that it's in pretty awful shape, and to completely repair it is outside our skill set. So we decided to use real caulk instead of the tape stuff. After a quick trip to Lowe's, I settled in for my very first experience with caulk. And man, was it messy. But I did it.
The Recaulkening
It's not pretty, and it won't be, but as long as it's sealed and it keeps the mildew at bay for a little while, that's fine. Ultimately we need to replace the entire shower, but that's not something my husband and I feel up to doing ourselves. I may see about hiring my dad to help.
So, since my actual goal was to replace the caulk, I'll considered this finished, but if we do end up replacing the shower, I'll post about that here too, since it's basically part of the same project.
To be continued...?
