Bathtub Re-Caulk

Written by Erica Anthony | October 8, 2019
Image “d_bathtub_after” by coolmathteacher, licensed under Creative Commons
 
There are some recurring maintenance tasks for homeowners that I never had to face as a renter. Frankly, I didn’t even know they existed. The longer I live at my house (currently 3.5 years and counting), the more chores I find out I need to do – or needed to do a while ago. Oops!
 
Last weekend my boyfriend and I tackled re-caulking the bathtub. This involves removing the old caulk around the edge of the bathtub (which was old, discolored, getting worse) and replacing it with new caulk. I’d been putting this project off for a long time because

1. I didn’t know how to do it, and
2. Once I figured out how to do it, I realized you have to let the new caulk dry for 24 hours before getting it wet. With multiple residents in a one-bathroom house, it never seemed convenient to shut down the only shower for 24 hours.

I researched, talked to the guy at the hardware store, bought the stuff I needed, and procrastinated. However, every shower it became more difficult to look at the gross old caulk that was getting darker and darker. Finally one morning after my shower I just said to hell with it and grabbed the putty knife. Turns out that removing existing caulk is not an easy task! My boyfriend helped with a strategy involving the putty knife and a hammer (and some caulk remover spray from the hardware store). Once the old caulk was sufficiently removed, and probably accidentally some of the grout too, we applied the new caulk in a very messy sophisticated finger-application method. (We have since learned of the existence of caulk bead tools which seem quite worthwhile.) Now the new caulk is pretty and clean.

 

Materials:
 

1. Putty knife for removal of old caulk, $7.59
2. Caulk remover, $7.59
3. New caulk “Premium Adhesive Sealant”, $6.59
4. (Not shown) Hammer? Try hitting the putty knife with it
5. (Also not shown) Caulk bead tool, if you want
6. (Also not shown) Paper towels if you are as messy as we were

 
 
Total cost ish: $21.77 + tax
 
Total time: I’d say 1-2 hours of old caulk removal and new caulk application, plus 24 hours before you can expose the new caulk to water and moisture
 
Frequency: Honestly I have no idea because I’ve only done it once, but the internet says you should do this about every 5 years

 
 
Of course this is not a “How To” – there are plenty of those online already. Just spreading the word that this is a thing new homeowners should know about. Because I didn’t!