uncured GE silicone caulk removal tips

[pferrari]

HOME DEPOT strikes again I caulked a tiled tub/shower this weekend and was admiring my work this morning when i notice that some of the caulk looked wet. Sure enough some of it is, actually 90% of it is uncured, Damn! I go out to the trash and dig out the GE silicone caulk tube, and sure enough is has a "use by" date of 2/07.

It is my fault for not checking them before i used them. I bought 2 tubes one was old and one is okay. Guess which one i used first, that covered 90% of the job.

Thats the bad news, the good news is it is my house, better to learn a lesson my myself than a customer i guess, but dread removing this stuff.

Any tips on getting this crap off the tile, and out of the joints?

[Bill_Vincent]

If it's uncured, you might be able to clean it out with denatured alcohol.

[A.P.G.C.]

You bought this caulk recently? A year over due? Jebus.

[S.Joisey]

Here's a link to the GE website with info about their silicone caulk.

They say to scrape as much out as you can, then use denatured alcohol.


http://www.gespecialtymaterials.com/...ions.html#faq1

[StephenS]

The plastic putty knives work good.. along with the white scotch brites soaked in denatured alcohol. I strongly recommend you wear a respirator and rubber gloves. I used to clean alot of silicone in my sunroof installation days and I found Bounty paper towels worked the best in the final clean up.

One man's return is another mans expired product purchase.

[autotouch]

Try Naphta







______________________

James

[pferrari]

One man's return is another mans expired product purchase.

Thats exactly what i think it was. I bought the two tubes the same day, when you look at the two, you can see one is noticeable older, the labeling is all scratched and worn. Live and learn.

Just for the principal i am going to take the two tubes back with the receipt and a nice glob of uncured silicone tomorrow. I don't want anything, maybe my $5 bucks back, and expect it to fall on deaf ears, but management should realize at some point that this is exactly the thing that makes it easy for me and others to choose the local super hardware store over THD, even thought their prices are higher.

Whats sad, is THD is trying to open a store basically next to the great hardware store we have in town. I will be a sad day in my little world if O'Connor's ever closes.

[StephenS]

Small world
I grew up in Billerica.

[Tom Thomas]

The solvent for 100% silicone caulk is mineral spirits.I learned that by reading the instructons on the caulk tube.

[Joe Adams]

I recently used some GE Silicone II Clear that I purchased at Home Depot to caulk in a shower door. For some reason, it did not cure properly and was still not skimmed over at 24-hours. I left it in place and it finally hardened up about a week later. I went back and checked the tube and the expiration date was still months away.

[pferrari]

I recently used some GE Silicone II Clear that I purchased at Home Depot to caulk in a shower door. For some reason, it did not cure properly and was still not skimmed over at 24-hours. I left it in place and it finally hardened up about a week later. I went back and checked the tube and the expiration date was still months away.

I left it for about a week, before i had time to get it removed, and it was drying i would say, not curing. It was still tacky and starting to show small cracks. Leaving it was not an option, there was no way i was going to let a crappy caulking job ruin a nice tiling job. So i spent the better part of 3 hours removing it all by scraping it off with a some plastic scrapers and cleaned all the residue off with IPA. Recaulked it yesterday with much better results.

Consider it a lesson learned, i WILL NEVER use a tube of silicone with out checking it first.

[JeffsRnR]

I like the DAP tub/shower caupk better than silicone. It seems to stick better and is easier to work with. Also, the spout can be removed from the tube to better seal the remainer and clean the spout for the next use.

[Lucky62]

Last fall I needed color matching caulk for a job , was in a rush , got what I needed ................apparently 2 of the 3 tubes weren't what the last person needed .............they had been opened with a 4 penny finish nail in stuck the end .

I didn't notice until I went to open the tubes ............the caulk was still good , however .

I look very carefully now .