Tips on a neat finish for caulk?

therink wrote:
Never use silicone caulk on a rv exterior.

About the worst stuff you can use. Will dry out and peel within a year. Don't understand why they even sell it anymore. So many better products out there these days.

Skip the fancy tools and use a wet finger. I keep a wet sponge or towel in my off hand.

acritzer wrote:

westend wrote:

acritzer wrote:

westend wrote:
All good advice above. As mentioned, the real trick is getting the correct amount of caulk on the joint. Spoons work good for rookies. If I had to recaulk all the siding joints on my trailer, I'd be done in less than 1/2 hour. This isn't a tough job.

Just the walls? Or including windows, hatches, doors etc?

The whole shootin' match.

Here's the deal--I'm a caulking fiend. I paint a few houses a year, lately a couple a year. I figure if the customer is paying me a fair amount for painting, he deserves to have all his siding caulked. I've always done it this way. It's pretty much SOP to dump a half a case or better of caulk on the kind of houses I do.

A trailer or Class C should eat up about three or four tubes and you only have to climb a six foot step ladder. Since I went to Eternabond on the roof and Geocel 2350 on the siding, I'm anticipating very little in the way of sealing.

Here's a tip for you if you're using the polymer caulks like Proflex or similar--warm the tubes up before you apply the sealant. It will come out of the gun better and is a easier to tool a good joint.

If you make it to Cincinnati let me know. I'd gladly pay for the job. I hate to caulk....and paint actually!

LOts of folks feel the same way. I call it "job security". :B

Maybe there's a better sealant that will bond to old versions of itself so it's easier to maintain?

There is- Dicor, Proflex RV, Sikaflex 3M Marine sealants. Basically, any polymer or urethane sealant can be sealed onto the same material.

Silicone is the worst since it degrades quickly from UV and nothing sticks to it, not even new silicone.

Never use silicone caulk on a rv exterior.

This is for Silicon.....

Do your prep. Carefully lay your bead so the caulk covers the joint but does not go beyond where it needs to be.

Use a spray bottle with denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol. ***Mist** the tool and the area you're going to smooth - be sure to NOT mist an area you have yet to do. It will evaporate fast, so you have to do a little at a time. For example caulk 4 feet, tool 3 feet (so you don't spray where you're going to continue), then do the next 4 foot section, etc.

The alcohol will prevent the caulk from sticking to your tool and the surface around where you caulked but it won't un-stick where you already made the bead.


Practice on something to get the hang of it.

The hardest part will be removing the old silicon caulk if there's old caulk there. Silicon caulk won't stick to old silicon so you must remove all the old stuff to get a good seal.

Maybe there's a better sealant that will bond to old versions of itself so it's easier to maintain?

westend wrote:

acritzer wrote:

westend wrote:
All good advice above. As mentioned, the real trick is getting the correct amount of caulk on the joint. Spoons work good for rookies. If I had to recaulk all the siding joints on my trailer, I'd be done in less than 1/2 hour. This isn't a tough job.

Just the walls? Or including windows, hatches, doors etc?

The whole shootin' match.

Here's the deal--I'm a caulking fiend. I paint a few houses a year, lately a couple a year. I figure if the customer is paying me a fair amount for painting, he deserves to have all his siding caulked. I've always done it this way. It's pretty much SOP to dump a half a case or better of caulk on the kind of houses I do.

A trailer or Class C should eat up about three or four tubes and you only have to climb a six foot step ladder. Since I went to Eternabond on the roof and Geocel 2350 on the siding, I'm anticipating very little in the way of sealing.

Here's a tip for you if you're using the polymer caulks like Proflex or similar--warm the tubes up before you apply the sealant. It will come out of the gun better and is a easier to tool a good joint.

If you make it to Cincinnati let me know. I'd gladly pay for the job. I hate to caulk....and paint actually!

I use a wet finger also. If I'm going for the perfect finish I'll use painters tape as well.

The job isn't the tough part- the prep is. You must get every bit of previous caulk cleaned, and the surface clean and dry. That usually takes me longer than the actual application.

acritzer wrote:

westend wrote:
All good advice above. As mentioned, the real trick is getting the correct amount of caulk on the joint. Spoons work good for rookies. If I had to recaulk all the siding joints on my trailer, I'd be done in less than 1/2 hour. This isn't a tough job.

Just the walls? Or including windows, hatches, doors etc?

The whole shootin' match.

Here's the deal--I'm a caulking fiend. I paint a few houses a year, lately a couple a year. I figure if the customer is paying me a fair amount for painting, he deserves to have all his siding caulked. I've always done it this way. It's pretty much SOP to dump a half a case or better of caulk on the kind of houses I do.

A trailer or Class C should eat up about three or four tubes and you only have to climb a six foot step ladder. Since I went to Eternabond on the roof and Geocel 2350 on the siding, I'm anticipating very little in the way of sealing.

Here's a tip for you if you're using the polymer caulks like Proflex or similar--warm the tubes up before you apply the sealant. It will come out of the gun better and is a easier to tool a good joint.

westend wrote:
All good advice above. As mentioned, the real trick is getting the correct amount of caulk on the joint. Spoons work good for rookies. If I had to recaulk all the siding joints on my trailer, I'd be done in less than 1/2 hour. This isn't a tough job.

Just the walls? Or including windows, hatches, doors etc?