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Using A Caulking Gun

  
  
  

caulkingA caulking gun makes caulking a shower very easy, and gives excellent results. The gun gives you great control over where the caulk goes and how much of it squeezes out of the tube.

I don’t like applying caulking with a squeeze tube. Squeezing a tube with your hands while trying to accurately place the tip of the tube spells trouble, especially when the tube starts running low. You have to squeeze harder and the results will look poor.

A caulking gun holds the tube and squeezes out the caulking smoothly, effortlessly, and accurately. After you load the tube in the gun, cut the tip of the tube at an angle. You want the hole to be as small as is necessary. You don’t want a ¼” hole in the tube if you are covering a gap 1/8” wide. In this situation, when you smooth out the caulking, you will end up removing more caulking than you need to get a water tight joint. It will also look poor.

Another trick is to apply the bead of caulking in a continuous bead at a constant speed. The only stopping point should be a corner. You may need to twist the gun as you approach a turn, but keep the tip moving.

Once you have a uniform bead of caulking down, wet your finger and smooth out the bead. The idea here is to not only push the caulking into the joint, but give it a nice appearance.

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Comments

As a Mississauga Handyman we have to be very skilled at caulking in many different types of items and not leaving a mess. 
Most commonly the whole idea behind caulking is to fill in cracks and gaps. If you use your finger which has a round End on it and you pull your finger along the joint you will create a rounded groove filling between the two items. If you are using this caulking on a baseboard and wall you will have a undefined line to paint to with your brush since there is no square edge to distinguish where the wall ends and the baseboard begins. 
What I usually do is I put a very thin bead of caulking and then afterwards I use a wet rag or sponge to wash off all the access caulking only leaving the caulking which is in the crack giving the wall to baseboard or trim a definite defined transition.
Posted @ Monday, December 13, 2010 3:42 PM by Mississauga handyman
I have found the trick to caulking is to use as little as possible. Obviously you need enough to fill the seam but the less you use the neater the finished product will be.
Posted @ Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:15 PM by Temecula Handyman
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