Caulking a bathtub for the first time was a mess until I found the painter's tape trick

I kept smearing caulk everywhere and had to redo it three times before a neighbor told me to tape off both edges first... has anyone else used this method or found a better way?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan.cameron5d ago

And here I am still trying to figure out the wet finger trick without getting silicone in my hair.

miller.paul5d agoMost Upvoted

The painter's tape trick works but honestly I just gave up and started using a wet finger to smooth everything out. Half the time the tape peels off unevenly and you end up with this jagged line that looks worse than just going freehand. My bigger issue was the caulk tube itself, those cheap plunger style guns are garbage. I dropped a tube of silicone on my kitchen floor once and it exploded like a toothpaste bomb, took me an hour to scrape it off with a putty knife. Next time I'm just paying someone fifty bucks to do it and saving myself the headache.

miles_roberts225d ago

My buddy kevin tried the tape trick on his bathroom remodel and it was a disaster. He peeled it off and half the line was perfect but the other half looked like a dog chewed on it. He got so mad he threw the tape roll across the garage and it stuck to the wall like a giant sticker. Took him forever to get the adhesive residue off with goo gone. He still talks about it every time someone brings up caulking.