Caulking and maintenance

JBarca wrote:

westend wrote:
3M Caulk Remover will soften and loosen any silicone caulk. Follow up with a rag and a solvent or very strong butyl soap. Usually, I will apply the caulk remover and cover with plastic wrap to sit over-night. The next day, the remaining caulk can be removed with a rag or plastic tool.

Hi Westend,

Will the 3M caulk remover soften and lift paint on aluminum or fiberglass surfaces? Or even rubber roofing for that matter

Thanks

John

John,
I've not had a problem with the 3M caulk remover lifting or dissolving paint. I haven't used it on EPDM. A research of the material safety data sheets would turn up any petroleum distillates in it's formula (although I don't believe there are any).

In it's most typical use, as a remover in baths and kitchens, I haven't seen any deleterious effects on interior latex paint. On my own RV, I used it without bad effects over the factory paint and over new DTM primer. It only softened the caulk.

As with all anecdotal information, use caution and research. I'd hate to be the guy that recommended the product and your $100K RV now needs a paint job. I'd certainly not use it on top of decals and graphics. I'd bet it is close to the same product used to soften those for removal.

The caulk remover shines when softening beads of silicone caulk. It makes it virtually painless to remove a bead. In some parts of my day-to-day work, I remove old caulk on exterior residential siding. Typically, that is done mechanically as we are concerned about time and it is done with a variety of scrapers prior to repaint.

Basically, John, if my BMW had a bead of silicone on it, I wouldn't be afraid of using the caulk remover.