Wow! What A Chore

[HONDARED]

I need help to make sure I did this correctly. I got the shower grouted and left all corners and where the walls meets the floors without. This weekend I did those areas with Siliconized Acrylic Sanded Caulk. What a mess! It is very sticky.

I applied it to the area and took a wet finger and smoothed it out. Just like other caulk. Does anyone have any tricks they would like to share with me. I even tried applying tape and then removing it after I smoothed the caulk. However, when I lefted the tape, it made a lip on the caulk line. I still had to use my finger to smooth it out.

Any suggestions PLEASE. I still have a little more to go and am not looking forward to the CHORE!!!

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[Davestone]

I cut a spomge in half apply the caulk and then wipe it with the wet sponge back and forth till it looks nice, then wipe either side to remove residue.

[sugarbeth]

I always tape each side of my caulk joint, pretty tight to where I want the caulk to stop, put the caulk in - not too much - smooth it out with a wet finger, peel off the tape from that section, then smooth it out with my finger again. If you have just the right amount left before removing the tape, then that last smoothing won't get messed up. I always press pretty firmly to get the extra out. They also make those caps with the shaping tool on the end, those might help. But really, you just have to go slow and do a couple of feet at a time.

I do a lot of caulking around the house for painting, etc. I always have a big stash of wet paper towels with me and am constantly wiping off my fingers with them. Some caulks need mineral spirits, which will be better than water for tooling it.

[HONDARED]

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I will try both this weekend when I finish up the job.

Karen

[claycarson]

Hondared, if you are using latex, acrylic caulk that is water soluble, as I think you are, don't hesitate to wipe it with a hydrophilic sponge. In fact, each wiping usually makes it look better! I wipe a caulk line upwards of 15 times before I like it - the worse that will happen is you wipe too much away and gotta put some more on, not the worst fate that could befall you!

But do one area at a time, don't get too far ahead of yourownself....

[Shaughnn]

For silicone caulk, remember to use Denatured Alcohol to wet your cleaning and tooling stuff instead of water.
Shaughnn

[sugarbeth]

Denatured alcohol - I was thinking that I remembered that wrong when I was mentioning mineral spirits - Shaughnn's right -that's what you use for smoothing the silicone stuff.

[SevrinJ]

Always keep an extra nail near by those sanded cartridges have a tendancy to stick and keep pushing the caulking out. That's makes a heck of a mess. :tup1: