How to Caulk a Sink or Shower

Featured Pro: Eric Stromer
Category: Home Improvement
Time: 2:19


ERIC STROMER: Hey, I’m Eric Stromer. Here’s your GMC Trade Secret.

You know, an often overlooked area in your bathroom or your kitchen is the area around where the tile meets the bathtub or the sink. It’s called the back splash. You always want to make sure that you check for mold or mildew buildup or some cracking areas, such as we have here, because what’ll happen ultimately is that water can seep back behind this situation, start to rot out your sub-floor and your two-by-four framing – bad, bad situation. Termite damage could occur, or dry rot.

So I want you to pay close attention. This is Caulking 101. Now, when you’re buying caulk, make sure you get it siliconized, and then you want to get something that’s white in this application here, because we have a white tub and it’ll blend in nicely with that.

Now, the caulk gun is a real simple instrument to use. It basically has an area here where you can put the caulk tip right into that hole and then go ahead and clip it just like that. And then there’s a little device here at the front that’ll actually act as a nail to puncture the seal of the caulk tube, and then you’re ready to go. You see, you have caulk right on the end of that thing there, okay.

Put it in the gun just like this, and then you start cranking down on that lever right there. It’s got a little activation device, almost like a trigger of a gun, okay. And then this will push itself into the caulk tube and push the caulk out of the end of the tube, and it’s very simple to operate.

And before you do that, I want you to get into this area here where you see the cracking. You can use a utility knife such as this and just scrape out any additional areas that are hanging over, just like that. Take a wet rag and get all that stuff off the corners there. And then just take the caulk gun, just like that. Squeeze some out and just go ahead and run a thin bead across the back. It’s almost like a pastry chef, you know, where he’s applying icing on a cake.

Then you go back over it with your index finger, just like that, and gently smooth it out. Don’t worry about smearing it up onto the tile. We’re going to rinse that out later. You can put your excess in a bucket just like that. Take your wet rag. Come back across it just a few times and get all that additional white haze off the tile.

In a matter of hours it’s going to be clean, dry and water-resistant; no more issues with cracking or moisture.

I’m Eric Stromer. That’s your GMC Trade Secret.