It is usually impossible to clean the mold and mildew from the caulk. In most cases the caulk needs to be removed and replaced with a quality 100% silicone caulk.
| Removing old caulk | Applying new caulk |
| Laticrete Latasil Caulk Colors |
Recaulking a shower can be a challenging task for most DIY homeowners. Removing the old caulk and installing new caulk frequently causes many troubles particularly when it comes to making the new caulk joint look straight and uniform. Often times people caulk their shower only to have the new caulk look uneven and ugly.
As you can see from the picture the homeowner has tried to caulk over the original caulk with a white caulk and the mold and mildew is growing in the caulk. Also caulk is coming out in places due to the wrong type of caulk and an improper caulking procedure. In order to properly recaulk a shower you must first remove the old caulk and then you should use a 100% silicone caulk in a color that matches the surrounding tiles. 100% silicone caulk like Laticrete Latasil caulk will not grow mold in the caulk like latex or siliconized caulk. Also 100% silicone caulk provides the best protection from water getting through the caulk and behind the shower tiles.
As you can probably realize the first thing that must be done is to remove the old dirty moldy disgusting caulk. To do this you need two types of razor blade devices. A box cutter type razor blade utility knife and a standard razor blade scraping device.
You should first use the utility knife type razor blade tool to cut into the old caulk to make it much easier to remove. Angle the utility knife so you can cut into the old caulk without cutting into and damaging the tiles below. It is ok to scrape the tiles where the new caulking will be but you do not want to damage the tile in places where there will not be any caulk applied.
A good quality utility knife like the Lenox Gold utility knife with an ergonomic grip will help you to hold the utility knife steady while cutting out the old caulk. The Lenox Gold utility knife also has a quick release button that allows you to quickly replace the dull utility knife blades so you can quickly get back to work.
After you have cut into the old caulk with a utility knife then you should use a razor blade tool to cut through the old caulk and scrape it away from the tiles. You should be careful when using the razor blade tool when removing caulk from any type of stone tiles like slate, marble, travertine or granite. Stone tiles are softer types of tiles then ceramic or porcelain tiles. You can easily scratch the stone tile surface if you are too aggressive when using the razor tool to scrape away the old caulk.
Use the razor blade tool with the proper angle to scrape away the old caulk from the tile surface as you can see in the picture below.
After you have separated the old caulk from the tiles you can generally just pull away the old caulk. You may be required to do additional scraping with the razor blade tool to ensure that all the old caulk is removed from the tile surfaces. You should try to remove a much of the old caulk as possible to ensure that the new caulk will bond well with the tile surface. After you have removed the old caulk you should also clean the tile surface with isopropyl alcohol to get the tile surface as clean as possible before you apply the new caulk.
Just pull away the old caulking and then clean the tile surface.
After you have removed and cleaned up the old caulk it is now time to install the new caulk to caulk your shower.
Recaulking a shower can be a difficult and laborious task. Even with the proper techniques it can still take a long time to complete and not look as good as you wanted. You may want to hire a professional tile and grout restoration contractor to recaulk your shower for you.
Choosing the correct caulk color Applying new caulk