Was against those clear caulk tubes until I saw my neighbor's bathroom

I always used the white paintable stuff because it was cheaper by like $2. He did his shower surround 8 months ago with the clear silicone and there's zero yellowing or mold. I just spent Sunday ripping out my old caulk and redoing it, wish I'd done this from the start. Anyone else switch and never go back?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez7d ago

Hold on, I think you might be mixing up two different products a little bit. The clear stuff you're talking about in the title is actually just regular clear silicone, not those "clear caulk tubes" that are actually just standard white caulk in a clear tube. The real game changer is using 100% silicone, not the acrylic latex stuff that's paintable. You said he used clear silicone and it worked great, but you need to make sure you actually bought silicone and not one of those "kitchen and bath" caulks that claim to be mildew resistant but still have acrylic in them. I made that mistake once and had to redo it after six months because it started cracking. Silicone is trickier to work with because it doesn't smooth out as easy and you have to tape everything off, but it's totally worth it for the waterproofing.

claire_fisher416d ago

Is it really that serious though? I mean yeah you had to redo yours, but the guy in the original post said his held up fine for 3 years and counting. @elizabeth_gonzalez I feel like you might be overthinking this a bit. Most folks just grab whatever tube is on sale and slap it on without reading the fine print lol. If it looks good and doesn't leak, who cares if it's 100% silicone or some blend? Plus taping everything off and dealing with that sticky mess sounds like a hassle when you could just smooth it with your finger and call it a day. I bet half the people here couldn't even tell you what their caulk is made of tbh.