Helpful hint when putting down a bead of caulk

[mdcamping]

Just learned this trick the other month, after putting down a bead of caulk, spray windex on it and then do the finish spread. (The windex is very slippery where the caulk will not stick to your finger)learned this from our local rv service dealership... makes the job so much easier and makes a real nice finish.



Mike

[RAS43]

I knew that and cleaned the caulk line first. But the Windex sprays a larger area and ran down the side.

[jsr21]

You shouldn't have any wax residual where you want to put caulk..won't stick

[RAS43]

Well, I tried this tip out this week since I am one of those "spit guys". Not dead yet after all these years! Anyway, the Windex did work well with just my finger and beads looked good. However, I did notice streaks in the surface and found that the Windex took off the wax. I had to rewax those areas around where I had worked. Besides ammonia Windex has 2 different alcohols in it. Since I like the shine my waxing leaves on my 5'er I think I'll try just water next time.

[Carb_Cleaner]

As I understand it, mineral spirits attacks the nervous system and its production process is horrible for the environment. I used it years ago, painting my way through school, but soon switched to spit or water. A product called "Goof Off" (a glue and latex paint remover) works well, too.
"If you can step across it, you can caulk it."
"Caulk and paint,
make a Carpenter what he ain't"

[svtkev]

i use mineral spirits , its a tip i recieved from a friend who caulks new rvs all day long

[Bobbo]

Tacswa3 wrote:
You guys recommend a certain caulk for RV use?

I will tell you what NOT to use. Never use anything, at all, with silicone in it.

[JohnG4706]

Just a word of caution...

Before spraying any soap solution on the untooled caulking, make sure the caulking is in full contact with BOTH surfaces. If you have any gaps and the soap solution gets in behind, the caulking will NOT adhere. The tooled surface will look great but you'll have a leak waiting.

Good luck.

[GMandJM]

Thanks for the tip. Will try that or dishsoap next time. The painters tape also is a good one.

[hooligan]

Along the same line: On my previous MH, I replaced the full length decals. Man from the RV dealer body shop did one side, I did the other. He sprayed the area with a weak solution of Dawn dish detergent, easy to move the decal for alignment and then squeegee it in place.

[Horizon170]

I use water on my finger to shooth it out. Another trick I use since I'm not very neat is to put down painters tape on on either side of the seam and after I smooth it out I remove the tape and the job looks pretty decent.
There are certain applications where I use $11.00/tube of house gutter caulk/sealer. For instance where I attached the add on to the rear of my RV.

[Old-Biscuit]

Halmfamily wrote:

downtheroad wrote:
Good tip...for years I have just used saliva....:S

Hope you don,t stick your fingers in your mouth to wet them. :B

I DO!

But usually only good for 1 tube of caulking before I need a break :B

[tvman44]

Good tip! 🙂 Thanks.

[Halmfamily]

downtheroad wrote:
Good tip...for years I have just used saliva....:S

Hope you don,t stick your fingers in your mouth to wet them. :B

[Tacswa3]

Cool, thanks