Clear, concise. Good job! 30 degrees, smaller runs, finger press in both directions to fill voids, less is best, and manage the tape to keep it out of the caulk line, and excess tape off the wall and your clothes! Just made my cleanest line ever.
I tried this in our kitchen, after years of hating caulking due to challenges and mess - this approach was awesome and worked great! Thanks for posting this video - super appreciated!
@@malikmurad2989 Hi Malik - for our kitchen, I used a matching sanded grout / silicon caulk to match the grout I used for our backsplashes. For a bathroom - I would use a reasonably priced silicone caulk for bathrooms at Home Depot, Lowes or your place of choice. This method worked great to not have the hassles to keep it straight and clean. I have simply used a wet finger for years and this works with a lot of patience and usually a good deal of clean up. This was so much better and looks great!
@@malikmurad2989 silicone sealant is good for wet areas in your house.( Keith hens and bathrooms) Only use latex for paint prep( around interior trim etc) and exterior that will be painted use polyurethane. There are always exceptions but this is the basics
Don’t count on the paintability of the silicone. Paint will stick to it better than regular silicone but it is still silicone and the paint will still peel much easier than on other surfaces. Good video I have installed sealants professionally for 40 years and get really irritated when people make videos using soapy water or window cleaner to tool the joint. It is detrimental to the performance of the sealant. You did it correctly. For the best bond, after “tooling” in one direction immediately go the other direction. It pulls the sealant into the minute corner at both sides of the grout line. Nice job. BTW you are not just removing the excess when you “ tool” the sealant with your finger ,you are significantly improving the bond by pressing the sealant against the substrate.Removing very small air pockets
Why does it have to be a finger? Finger is just a tool like a professional plastic tool is. And you're pushing the said tool like you would with a finger.
@@glacialimpala first of all it shouldn’t be a finger. But most people don’t own professional caulking tools. And by the way, professional caulking tools are usually not made of plastic. And they are definitely not the caulking “tools” or “profiling “ tools sold in big box stores.Those are garbage and just scrape off the excess sealant, they do not properly tool the joint.No professional caulker uses them.
Ingenious. Wish zi would have seen this before I sealed my tiles. I was told not to use silicone sealant on my tiles because it shrinks when dry. Is that true?
I thought it would work better than it did. After carefully applying tape, I caulked. The caulk wasn’t allowed to dry at all and I pealed off the tape. The results were that the caulk edge puckered up at the edges as I removed the tape. Maybe I pulled in the wrong direction? I had to use a wet fingertip to smooth down edge.
I did my my shower yesterday using very thin metal foil tape to mask. The masking operation was quite fiddly because the tape is so thin. After several hours of precision masking, I applied the silicone. All was going well as I began smoothing the joints. I got about a third of the way into smoothing when I realised the remaining unsmoothed silicone had already started to skin. 😱 Long story short, it ended up being a messy disaster (except for the first bit I had smoothed before it skinned). Now I have several hours ahead of me removing most of the dried silicone so I can start again. For me, the most important tip in the vid is don't do more than 10 ft at a time (maybe even less if you're a novice and don't work at the speed of a professional). If only I'd had that tip before I started.... 😩
@@PaulPhoenix2010great tip - this is automotive painting tape and leaves a much lower edge than regular blue painter's tape (although that tape is harder to find here in Australia).
They make a an inexpensive edge smoothing tool that has multiple angles for picking the width of the resultant seal. This tool works better than a finger for smoothing.
If you have a larger job to do like a whole shower, do you caulk it all before removing any of the tape or do you remove the tape in sections as you go?
I would just do it in sections. But if you don't need perfectly straight lines , you could also just go without the tape and just use your finger , but practice first with a very small bead to spread with your finger. But if that's too hard, just switch back to using tape.
I’m definitely not a pro but I like to use a razor blade when laying tape. You can lay the tape and then put the razor blade over the tape and then pull the tape against the blade to get a perfect straight cut in the tape.
Great tip, thanks. Do I need to put silicon in a corner where 2 walls/ tiles meet vertically instead of grout? I did my back splash today and didn't put grout in that corner. I will use your method tomorrow all around ends of tiles. Please advise.
When not using masking take and there's a film left on the surface, how do i remove this? Do petroleum/kerosene, gasoline or thinner help in removing the silicone film? Thanks.
Great video! Quick question - I need to silicone around my new laminate kitchen worktop, the wall is just painted/no tiles, but because the walls aren’t straight in all areas there’s some large gaps between the kitchen counter and a wall (about large enough to fit the top of your pinky finger in). If I just apply silicone to these gaps will it work? Or will it sink in down the gap? I’m not sure what’s best to plug the gap with
There is a cylinder-ish shaped foam material called backer-rod that comes in various sizes that designed to fill large gaps, after filling the gap with backer-rod then you can use caulking or silicone on top of the backer-rod to make it look nice.
Does it go above the tape into the grout lines? I have a job that has black grout and they want white sealant from the countertops to the mosaic backsplash.
Thanks for the awesome tips! Do you have any tips to restore quarts countertops? I have the same ones as you and they have all kinds of deep stains due to the previous owner.
Try bar keepers friend. Get the kind that comes in a gel. Widely recommended in the stone countertop industry. Acetone (nail polish remover) may work as well but use sparingly as it can etch the finish of the surface.
Thank you for the tip, I do have questions, what do I use around kitchen faucet and shower walls where it meets the wall? There's too many products. Do I need caulk, silicone or any other product? Thank you.
The faucet comes with manufacturer's recommendations. Hans Grohe which I bought says silicone meant for bathrooms and such, but non-acidic kind. Pros tell me it doesn't matter if it's acidic since acid can't really rust your faucet, especially not in a couple of minutes before the acid 'evaporates'.
@@sernani99 no problem, I hope your silicone turns out looking and performing great! And thank god faucets come with masks that cover up the area that gets caulked
Unfortunately the silicone or caulking will not stick to the freshly oiled block either. You will have to clean a small area on the edge of block to make tape and sealant adhere. Then re oil edge of block after applying sealant
A few comments to pull this off successfully: - Be aware the kind of caulk you are using: silicone is hard to tool and can only be cleaned with mineral spirits. Latex/acrylic/siliconized caulks are water soluble and easier to work with. - Tape the joint to the exact width you expect the final caulk bead to be. If your tape is too far apart you would get a lot of smeared caulk after pulling the tape. If your tape is too close together, you will lift the edge of the bead and leave a lip that is hard to smooth cleanly. - Do not use your finger, use a plastic tool for caulking. A plastic tool will allow to tool the caulk bead in a consistent manner and you can make several passes without making a mess. If you use your finger it is hard to apply even pressure and be consistent to achieve a uniform bead. Good luck, getting perfect edges is not easy to do.
Yeah one really needs to ballance three things - distance between tape, plastic tool width and the amount of silicone. The distance needs to match the size of the tool so the point where the tool touches the wall is the exact width of the space between tapes. I'm afraid too many people just eyeball this!
You can you use silicone or caulking for any edge that looks unfinished. If the edge of your tile already looks nice then don't worry about it .. but if it looks bad go ahead and add some silicone or caulking. Remember caulking is paintable and silicone is not.
Editing my comment - so this tape is absolutely pointless and could harm the job. If you get the distance just right it doesn't serve any purpose since your tool will remove excess on its own. But if you get the gap uncovered by tape just a little bit more narrow than the tool you're using when you peel off the tape the edge will have a lip which will be catching dirt and water forever. But what tool you ask, shouldn't we just use the finger? The finger makes a concave shape which is a no-no for wet areas. Thanks and good bye.
Ok i can kind of see why you do this. I mean it has caulking on baseboards anyway. HOWEVER you dont need to if you buy high quality tape and actually take the time to ROLL IT WITH A ROLLER (not paint roller). We dont use caulk on cars and look how clean those are and I even did sandblasting monuments and this is what we do to get clean lines. *Good tape has teeny tiny little globules and when you roll it good these burst and adhere*
Clear, concise. Good job! 30 degrees, smaller runs, finger press in both directions to fill voids, less is best, and manage the tape to keep it out of the caulk line, and excess tape off the wall and your clothes! Just made my cleanest line ever.
You saved the day! Caulking around mosaic tile was driving me nuts. Such a simple but effective solution. Thanks!
Just about to tackle my bathroom now, your advice is giving me some confidence.
I tried this in our kitchen, after years of hating caulking due to challenges and mess - this approach was awesome and worked great! Thanks for posting this video - super appreciated!
which product did you use? I am confused now. Is Silicon Caulking tube good for bathroom?
@@malikmurad2989 Hi Malik - for our kitchen, I used a matching sanded grout / silicon caulk to match the grout I used for our backsplashes. For a bathroom - I would use a reasonably priced silicone caulk for bathrooms at Home Depot, Lowes or your place of choice.
This method worked great to not have the hassles to keep it straight and clean. I have simply used a wet finger for years and this works with a lot of patience and usually a good deal of clean up.
This was so much better and looks great!
Mark Molau: Years: Why so long?
@@malikmurad2989 silicone sealant is good for wet areas in your house.( Keith hens and bathrooms) Only use latex for paint prep( around interior trim etc) and exterior that will be painted use polyurethane. There are always exceptions but this is the basics
Awesome video, thank you! Helped a first-timer like me to neatly seal a gap between kitchen working plate and laminate panel
Don’t count on the paintability of the silicone. Paint will stick to it better than regular silicone but it is still silicone and the paint will still peel much easier than on other surfaces.
Good video I have installed sealants professionally for 40 years and get really irritated when people make videos using soapy water or window cleaner to tool the joint. It is detrimental to the performance of the sealant. You did it correctly. For the best bond, after “tooling” in one direction immediately go the other direction. It pulls the sealant into the minute corner at both sides of the grout line. Nice job. BTW you are not just removing the excess when you “ tool” the sealant with your finger ,you are significantly improving the bond by pressing the sealant against the substrate.Removing very small air pockets
Why does it have to be a finger? Finger is just a tool like a professional plastic tool is. And you're pushing the said tool like you would with a finger.
@@glacialimpala first of all it shouldn’t be a finger. But most people don’t own professional caulking tools. And by the way, professional caulking tools are usually not made of plastic. And they are definitely not the caulking “tools” or “profiling “ tools sold in big box stores.Those are garbage and just scrape off the excess sealant, they do not properly tool the joint.No professional caulker uses them.
@@genecarden780Why even comment if you’re not going to post a link to what you SHOULD be using? All you did was bitch.
Thank you so much for the helpful replies! I will put your knowledge to work today doing my tub! ❤🎉
Thanks. Great advice. I went with the tape as you suggested. Worked great. Made a clean crisp line.
Strips of tape must be laid in such away that its shingled under the next so when you pull the tape it continues to pull the next strip.
I'm soooo relieved! I didn't tape my first time and it was not good. Followed this video and it's perfectttt. Than you!! 🙏🙏🙏
Glad it helped!
Thanks for the video!!! I'm ready to caulk and have a straight line now.
This is my second time caulking my tub. The first time, well, a bit messy. I used your technique, taped the tub and wall. Fantastic! Thank you!
GREAT video. Thanks. Had to watch about five worthless videos before I found yours. Thank you
Glad it helped
Thanks so much. It was my first time caulking & the result was great, nice straight lines 👏👍. Cheers from Oz.
found your video to be the best of all the ones i watched. THANKS!!
Thank you
Super thin tap is key to having the smallest edge possible. There’s thinner tape than blue.
Ingenious. Wish zi would have seen this before I sealed my tiles. I was told not to use silicone sealant on my tiles because it shrinks when dry. Is that true?
I thought it would work better than it did. After carefully applying tape, I caulked. The caulk wasn’t allowed to dry at all and I pealed off the tape. The results were that the caulk edge puckered up at the edges as I removed the tape. Maybe I pulled in the wrong direction? I had to use a wet fingertip to smooth down edge.
same here. switching to 3M precision ultra thin tape and definitely will pull in the direction of grout tooling next time
I did my my shower yesterday using very thin metal foil tape to mask. The masking operation was quite fiddly because the tape is so thin. After several hours of precision masking, I applied the silicone. All was going well as I began smoothing the joints. I got about a third of the way into smoothing when I realised the remaining unsmoothed silicone had already started to skin. 😱 Long story short, it ended up being a messy disaster (except for the first bit I had smoothed before it skinned). Now I have several hours ahead of me removing most of the dried silicone so I can start again. For me, the most important tip in the vid is don't do more than 10 ft at a time (maybe even less if you're a novice and don't work at the speed of a professional). If only I'd had that tip before I started.... 😩
@@PaulPhoenix2010great tip - this is automotive painting tape and leaves a much lower edge than regular blue painter's tape (although that tape is harder to find here in Australia).
what a great video! thanks for sharing your expertise
That is as clean as I have ever seen done👍
Thank you. I did all the tile work so I wanted my silicone to look as nice as possible to keep client happy.
Very informative. Made the job look professional. Thanks
Thank you
Thanks good presentation friend
They make a an inexpensive edge smoothing tool that has multiple angles for picking the width of the resultant seal. This tool works better than a finger for smoothing.
I have it...& i still use my finger.
And use a soapy water spray!
Many times tiles are not 100% flat and level and finger works better and free too.
@@GrandNational66: Selassie. Bless.
Great explanation Thank you
If you have a larger job to do like a whole shower, do you caulk it all before removing any of the tape or do you remove the tape in sections as you go?
I would just do it in sections. But if you don't need perfectly straight lines , you could also just go without the tape and just use your finger , but practice first with a very small bead to spread with your finger. But if that's too hard, just switch back to using tape.
So detailed and what a great job.
Has to be one of the best videos yet !! Always had problems getting the perfect bead but after watching this..I'M AWESOME!! LOL..ok..just kidding!
Glad it helped!
That turned out sweet!
Isnt there a slight lip once the tape is lifted??
My thought exactly. I would've thought painter's tape is too thick.
Can I use this same method using a sanded caulk on my kitchen counter with granite?
Yep.
I really appreciated the video . It shows me everything i needed to know , ty !
that looks so good
I followed this advise and it helped a lot but I couldn't get the corners right. How do you do the corners properly? Any tips for that? Thank!
I’m definitely not a pro but I like to use a razor blade when laying tape. You can lay the tape and then put the razor blade over the tape and then pull the tape against the blade to get a perfect straight cut in the tape.
Why not use soapy water?
Answered my questions, thank you.
Thanks. Good work and a good video.
Great tip, thanks.
Do I need to put silicon in a corner where 2 walls/ tiles meet vertically instead of grout?
I did my back splash today and didn't put grout in that corner.
I will use your method tomorrow all around ends of tiles.
Please advise.
Silicone would probably work better in the corners.
GREAT JOB....especially for the perfectionist in me!
thank you
Very supportive !
When not using masking take and there's a film left on the surface, how do i remove this? Do petroleum/kerosene, gasoline or thinner help in removing the silicone film? Thanks.
Rubbing alcohol works good.
@@D.I.Y._All-in-One thank you.
Wow that’s perfect! Thank you for posting, it’s quite simple.
Great video! Quick question - I need to silicone around my new laminate kitchen worktop, the wall is just painted/no tiles, but because the walls aren’t straight in all areas there’s some large gaps between the kitchen counter and a wall (about large enough to fit the top of your pinky finger in). If I just apply silicone to these gaps will it work? Or will it sink in down the gap? I’m not sure what’s best to plug the gap with
There is a cylinder-ish shaped foam material called backer-rod that comes in various sizes that designed to fill large gaps, after filling the gap with backer-rod then you can use caulking or silicone on top of the backer-rod to make it look nice.
This a PERFECT video, the way all DIY videos should be!
One question: when should you use silicone and when should you use latex caulking?
Generally if it's an area that's not gonna be painted Silicone works good. If its an area where you want to paint then I would recommend caulking.
If it’s gets wet - bathroom and kitchen counter, use silicone
@@PeteLenz Did you ever notice that silicone doesn't stick around tubs, windows, etc? It will peel right off. Butyl caulk will not.
Should I apply it at the corner of the black splash where two planes meet?
I think so and I am putting silicon in corner instead of grout tomorrow.
which product / brand did you use?
Great tip man
I pull the tape away from the caulk and it still raises the edge of the caulk
Does it go above the tape into the grout lines? I have a job that has black grout and they want white sealant from the countertops to the mosaic backsplash.
"nice straight line" Got it!
How do you caulk stone ledger for backsplash?
Thanks for the awesome tips! Do you have any tips to restore quarts countertops? I have the same ones as you and they have all kinds of deep stains due to the previous owner.
Try bar keepers friend. Get the kind that comes in a gel. Widely recommended in the stone countertop industry. Acetone (nail polish remover) may work as well but use sparingly as it can etch the finish of the surface.
Thank you for the tip, I do have questions, what do I use around kitchen faucet and shower walls where it meets the wall? There's too many products. Do I need caulk, silicone or any other product?
Thank you.
The faucet comes with manufacturer's recommendations. Hans Grohe which I bought says silicone meant for bathrooms and such, but non-acidic kind.
Pros tell me it doesn't matter if it's acidic since acid can't really rust your faucet, especially not in a couple of minutes before the acid 'evaporates'.
@@glacialimpala thanks.
@@sernani99 no problem, I hope your silicone turns out looking and performing great! And thank god faucets come with masks that cover up the area that gets caulked
Thanks mate!
what can I do if I have new freshly oiled butcher block and the tape wont stick?
Unfortunately the silicone or caulking will not stick to the freshly oiled block either. You will have to clean a small area on the edge of block to make tape and sealant adhere. Then re oil edge of block after applying sealant
your'e the Man Man!
Thank you this was very helpful ☺️
Awesome! Very helpful!!! Thank you😁
A few comments to pull this off successfully:
- Be aware the kind of caulk you are using: silicone is hard to tool and can only be cleaned with mineral spirits. Latex/acrylic/siliconized caulks are water soluble and easier to work with.
- Tape the joint to the exact width you expect the final caulk bead to be. If your tape is too far apart you would get a lot of smeared caulk after pulling the tape. If your tape is too close together, you will lift the edge of the bead and leave a lip that is hard to smooth cleanly.
- Do not use your finger, use a plastic tool for caulking. A plastic tool will allow to tool the caulk bead in a consistent manner and you can make several passes without making a mess. If you use your finger it is hard to apply even pressure and be consistent to achieve a uniform bead.
Good luck, getting perfect edges is not easy to do.
Yeah one really needs to ballance three things - distance between tape, plastic tool width and the amount of silicone. The distance needs to match the size of the tool so the point where the tool touches the wall is the exact width of the space between tapes. I'm afraid too many people just eyeball this!
thank you
You're welcome
Great job. Looks good As long as water can't get behind it 👍
thank u
What does non-paintable silicone do?
Great videos man!
Thank you
Nice
Hi, do you still need silicone on edges ended with tile trim?
You can you use silicone or caulking for any edge that looks unfinished. If the edge of your tile already looks nice then don't worry about it .. but if it looks bad go ahead and add some silicone or caulking. Remember caulking is paintable and silicone is not.
@@D.I.Y._All-in-One thank you.
Very nice. What about a circular surface on a boat fitting?
Maxima ??
AH dang it, I should have used painters tape. Next time.
Editing my comment - so this tape is absolutely pointless and could harm the job. If you get the distance just right it doesn't serve any purpose since your tool will remove excess on its own. But if you get the gap uncovered by tape just a little bit more narrow than the tool you're using when you peel off the tape the edge will have a lip which will be catching dirt and water forever. But what tool you ask, shouldn't we just use the finger? The finger makes a concave shape which is a no-no for wet areas.
Thanks and good bye.
Ok i can kind of see why you do this. I mean it has caulking on baseboards anyway. HOWEVER you dont need to if you buy high quality tape and actually take the time to ROLL IT WITH A ROLLER (not paint roller). We dont use caulk on cars and look how clean those are and I even did sandblasting monuments and this is what we do to get clean lines.
*Good tape has teeny tiny little globules and when you roll it good these burst and adhere*
⭐
📝 don’t 📝 make 📝 a 📝 big 📝 mess
crap, dont use tape,use a plastic tool
I never succeeded with plastic tool still made a mess I will be trying tape