Small Master Bath Remodel - Seeking Layout & Build Advice

[HilltopRehab]

Thanks Ryan!

Question to the group -

Is it a terrible idea to go over silicone with more silicone in a redo attempt?


I should have practiced applying silicone more before I did it, and I got better as I went along. There's a lot of silicone with all the changes in plane in the niche, although I do wonder if it's overkill and grout would have been fine given the construction methods of the niche in particular.

I actually went over some of the niche silicone the day after doing it, after reading some opinions that it's doable if done soon after and the initial silicone job is perfectly clean.

My question is at the shower floor perimeter. It's been about a week now and I haven't used the shower yet, the floor silicone might be just a little dusty. But it's a bit sloppy and I worry about the difficulty of cleaning it and the potential for water to be trapped longer versus a nice bead.

Could I clean the silicone with mineral spirits, blow it out with compressed air, and then go over it again? I am afraid that attempting to remove the silicone will create more of a mess and I'll never get it out 100% anyway. But at the same time this is the shower floor so it's probably the most critical that there be minimal risk of peeling etc.

[Snets]

Only you can decide whether or not to re-do the whole thing or try to fix it. You can clean it with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol according to several Internet sources. Or you can scrape and razor blade to remove your errors.

Caulking is an art. I am a taper and scraper. I tape both sides of the joint and use a scraper with a small radius.....and backer rod where necessary to avoid pushing the caulk too far into the joint, which looks unsightly. It is a time investment for sure, but works for me.

Also look at this thread.

[HilltopRehab]

Originally Posted by Snets

Caulking is an art.

When it comes to straight silicone, you ain't kidding!! I had little idea, previous silicone experience was only in doing my kitchen backsplash where I used the linked advice. Plenty of experience with acrylic caulk but it's such a cakewalk in comparison.

For the niche I initially taped everything, but quickly realized I taped too close to the joint in an attempt to make a boss-level tiny bead - pulling the tape left too big a flap of silicone, and/or I did too much at once so it started to skin over before I could smooth it out post-tape without it getting all rippled and wonky.

Then I tried tooling it with one of those caulk tool kits, same issue as finger but I discovered how well the squeegee action worked.

Then I got bold and skipped the tape altogether, figuring it took too much time and I needed to get the bead right before skinning over. But the squeegee eventually leaves a little residue on its edge which gets annoying to clean up.

Finally I realized I should just tape a good half inch away from the joint, lay the silicone, and tool it. If some excess doesn't get squeegee'd it should land on the tape.

At this point I'm pretty comfortable with the tool and can do it without tape.

[BIGPHIL]

Your shower is looking really great, Steve... excellent looking work!