Caulking like a pro
Posted by Wayne
Caulking is just one of those things that seems so easy but every time you go to do it it turns into a big mess and you darn near ruin the project you just worked for hours on. I always had mixed results with the Dap Cap, and thought there had to be a better way. I could never figure out how to get a quick, professional caulk bead. It’s just plain irritating is what it is.
Meet finger and wet sponge:
The easiest way in the world to get an professional caulk bead:
1. Caulk the desired location/gap with a caulk gun. Don’t put too much on there, just enough to cover it.
2. Take your finger and push it down in there. Mash it down in there. Go back and forth. Don’t worry about it getting messy on the sides or away from the bead, just get the gap filled. If you have to add in more caulk from the gun, go ahead and do it. If you can remove some of the caulk with your finger, do so and wipe it off somewhere safe.
3. Take a wet sponge* and wipe it down in one direction. Fold the sponge in half and wipe again in the same direction. The first couple of wipes will definitely get a lot of caulk on the sponge, so you have to rinse it out in the sink and repeat the same process a couple of times with a clean sponge until the bead is clean and smooth.
The final result: A perfect caulk bead with no mess. I learned this trick installing hundreds of bathroom and kitchen sinks and fixtures while working as a plumber.
*My favorite type of sponge to do this with is more like a packaging foam type sponge, as seen in the image above, and I think the reason is that it can really get down into a 90 degree corner so you have more control over how much of the wet caulk bead you’re wiping away, and I can fold in in half several times over before rinsing it out. Any sponge should work, but the softer the better.
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