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You are ready to tackle some weekend projects including caulking the bathtub or shower, but you first need to remove the old caulking. Sometimes this is easy, and sometimes it seems that you need a jackhammer to break up the old stuff. If luck is on your side, the old caulking will come out in a long strip, but don't bet on it.
Silicone caulking has the reputation of staying flexible and consequently tends to come out easier, but some of the home center brands, water based and latex caulking can get hard and need a little coaxing to come out. For the caulking that is as hard as rock, you can try to heat it up with a heat gun until it is pliable. Keep the gun moving from side-to-side until the area is uniformly warm and then you can cut it out.
Use a razorblade in a holder and push it into the caulking from both sides. In other words, you want to cut it from both surfaces that it is touching. When you encounter and area that you are unable to cut into, break out the heat gun and warm the area back up. Be careful not to scratch the surfaces.
Once you have cut out the bulk of the old caulking, you will likely be left with small remnants of caulking left on the surfaces. You can use denatured alcohol to wipe away soap scum and give the area a general cleaning before you re-caulk the shower or bathtub. Make sure the area is completely dry before you caulk a shower or bathtub.
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