I found this forum with a super smart poster whose screen name is "nestork." He apparently is a science nerd who is also a janitor. He has some very detailed posts about the science behind janitorial work. I'm not sure if all of its true but from what I know about science, it seems legit.
In this forum he writes a SUPER long post with 4 parts:
1. How to remove old Silicone caulk COMPLETELY.
2. What silicone caulk to buy
3. How to place new silicone caulk
4. How to clean mildewed silicone caulk
This post was super helpful in evaluating both of our showers for some caulk replacement and cleaning. Our basement bathroom didn't have any caulk around it and the grout was a little grimy. I wanted to clean it before applying clear silicone caulk so I tried using normal bathroom cleaners and a sponge to remove the grime but had no luck. So I decided to try nestork's cleaning method to see if it worked!
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| Using the blue scrubby sponge wasn't a good idea, it just left blue stuff behind on the grout. Wonderful, now we have grimy, blue grout. : ) |
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| These are the supplies needed for the magic cleaning. |
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| Mix a random amount of Borax and Bleach. It should be thoroughly wet but not runny. I ended up using about twice the amount as shown here. |
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| Using a plastic spoon, scoop some up and spread it on the area to be cleaned, using the back of the spoon to press it in. |
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| It needs to sit for about 24 hours so covering it with plastic wrap and painters tape will keep it from drying out. |
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| After it sits for 24 hours, take all that cling wrap off. |
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| I used a scrub brush to take off the Borax&Bleach mix although no scrubbing was actually necessary to take the grime off. |
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| A quick rinse and the grout was super white! |
This ended up being very easy. I would recommend this cleaning method for anyone who can't get their caulk or grout easily clean.
The previous owners recently redid the upstairs bathroom. It looks great but the silicone caulk in the shower needed to be replaced.
When I removed it, what I learned this: Dark gray grout + clear caulk = dirty LOOKING caulk. The caulk really wasn't dirty at all. I knew it would annoy me if I just put clear caulk back over it since it would still look dirty. So one special order at Morris Tile and a week later, my Sterling Silver colored Latasil silicone caulk (that costs 3 times as much as normal clear caulk) came in.
Again, I followed nestork's directions and the caulking turned out really well!
The previous owners recently redid the upstairs bathroom. It looks great but the silicone caulk in the shower needed to be replaced.
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| What I thought was dirty caulk. |
Again, I followed nestork's directions and the caulking turned out really well!
Follow nestork's advice, he won't lead you wrong!
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