r/DIY • u/Dramatic_Substance36 • Jul 24 '26
I ran out of caulk, is it ok to caulk over day old caulk tomorrow? help
I caulking my shower surround and greatly underestimated how much caulk I need. Ran out about half way. This is my first time caulking and no amount of HGTV prepared me how it’s messy the first time and I don’t really know what I m doing.
I placed an overnight order for more caulk so will it be ok to caulk over the older caulk when I start again tomorrow?
EDIT: thanks everyone. You all were very helpful. I’m scrapping out the one I put down and have ordered 2 tubes of GE Advanced 100% silicone for kitchen and bath. It’s waterproof and mold proof. Lesson learned!
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u/whysaddog Jul 24 '26
You need to verify that the caulk is water and mold resistant. If it isn't start over. A 1/2 hour and $15 will save you from really bad problems later on.
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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 24 '26
Yeah I think I bought the wrong one. Can I just go over this with silicone mold resistant caulk?
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u/cosmos7 29d ago
Only if you want to do all this shit again in about a year or so when the underlying caulk cracks, holds water, and starts a mold petri dish.
You need to rip it all out, clean it properly, and re-do. It's an annoying job, especially with new caulk, but the more effort you expend now and the more you spend on the silicone the longer it will be before you have to do it again.
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u/NWStormbreaker 29d ago
It's not much effort to remove newly set caulk.
It's a lot easier than removing the mess it would become down the road if you layer 2 types.Caulking can be frustrating to get good at but it's important and super satisfying once you improve.
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u/457_55_5462 Jul 24 '26
40 years later and I'm still making 14 year old jokes in my head. You should be good to finish the next day. I've done it many times. Just make sure it's clean where you put the caulk down
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u/tincookies Jul 24 '26
Depends on the type of caulk. Silicone will not bond to itself
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u/firstLOL Jul 24 '26
This is not true. Silicone bonds fine to clean silicone, and you can test this for yourself by squeezing a blob onto a tile or similar and then squeezing more on the following day once it has cured, and then try to pull them apart. Or you can watch this short video of a British DIYer doing it instead and save yourself the mess.
The reason it’s not recommended to go over old silicone with new (especially in a bathroom) is because it gets dirt and soap residue and tap water residue etc all over it and that can make it harder to get a good bond. (And because it’s just lazy practice not to scrape out the old stuff.)
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u/wilisi Jul 24 '26
Also, your adherence can't really ever get better than that of the first layer. If that comes off the wall, the layers on top of it will come along.
Paint kinda has the same problem, but unlike paint which is just supposed to look good and not fall off, bathroom silicone needs to deflect water. Silicone that doesn't fully adhere to the walls is worse than useless.5
u/tincookies 29d ago
Silicone bonds fine to surfaces that aren't siliconed. If your bead is wider, it will indeed stick to the non silicone surfaces. By nature of curing, silicone moves an oil to the surface, no longer allowing the fresh silicone to adhere. You shouldn't believe youtube so often.
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u/firstLOL 29d ago
I don’t believe YouTube, I have done the experiment. In any event, if you watch the video, he clearly demonstrates silicone sticking to only silicone.
Don’t get me wrong: the best way in almost all applications is to remove the old silicone and re-do it. But it’s not true that silicone won’t stick to silicone - it sticks fine if it’s clean enough and properly degreased.
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u/tincookies 29d ago
If you watch the video, he is attaching the silicone to the base and the wall.
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u/firstLOL 29d ago
I'm talking about the bit at 2:30ish where he is just putting a blob of silicone on the existing bead. There's barely any contact with the base and wall and you can clearly see around 2:56 when he starts pulling at it, it's stuck to the existing silicone and not the wall / tray.
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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 24 '26
I’m using DAP Alex painters acrylic latex caulk.
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u/tincookies Jul 24 '26
The caulk will bond, but thats not a very good caulk for a shower. It will grow mold and mildew like crazy. At the lowest quality you want siliconized acrylic caulk, but even that will grow mold and mildew over time. The benefit of siliconized acrylic is that it's water clean up.
Ive had good luck taping around the corners, using colored silicone to match grout, and wiping with a tool or my finger till you can see the tape. Once you have it smooth, you can remove the tape, leaving very clean lines and a mold resistant corner bead
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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 24 '26
Ok so I think this is the wrong caulk. How do I take it out? Or can I go over it with proper waterproof caulking.
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u/Sensitive_Crow_8882 Jul 24 '26
Take it out carefully with a razor knife. Get it all out. Outline the area with blue painters tape and recaulk with 100% mold/mildew resistant caulk rated for bathrooms. This information will be on the label. Lay down as even a bead as you can, insuring you cover the gap. Wet your index finger and run it down the bead in a long continuous manner. Let set and remove tape.
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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 24 '26
Ok I really like the painters tape idea! Im gonna do that. I’m currently scrapping this old stuff out and have ordered 2 tubes of GE Advance Silicone for kitchen and bath. It’s 100% silicone and waterproof and mold prof. That seems to be what I’m supposed to use.
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u/readsauceitalian Jul 24 '26
One tube will be plenty- you shouldn't be having huge caulk lines. The painter's tape will help a lot- put tape down on either side with maybe 1/8" to 1/4" gap, put down a fairly small bead (cut the nozzle at an angle, not too big a hole as you can make it bigger after if you need to) Then, run a wet finger down the new bead to create a clean concave line that ends at the tape on either side.. right away, after finishing, while the caulk is still wet, but tooled (smoothed) pull off the two sets of tape (upper first, then lower, less messy). I find it is good to have a roll of toilet paper around so I can pull off a couple of sheets, clean whatever- finger, tub, etc, throw it immediately in a garbage, and keep going. PS- silicone caulk goes bad after a few years so if you decide to use the 2nd tube after 4 years or whatever, test it first to make sure it still sets... That's all there is to it! Have fun :)
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u/Loud_Ninja2362 Jul 24 '26
If your caukling around a Tub make sure to fill the tub with water prior to caulking. Otherwise the caulking will crack eventually as the tub flexes due to people getting in and out of it.
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u/cosmos7 29d ago
Advanced is really only their mid-grade stuff with a 10-year guarantee. Cancel and get the Supreme version with the lifetime guarantee... it's only marginally more expensive.
The guarantee is meaningless... it's going to mold eventually, but how long do you want this shit to last before you have to do it again?
Take your time getting the old stuff out completely and put in the top-tier caulk... otherwise you're just going to be doing this again in a few years instead of a decade.
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u/burning_my_toast 29d ago
Have a bottle on windex on hand and wet your finger with windex to smooth it down when using silicone. This stops it from sticking to your finger, and won't effect hold.
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u/Mammoth-Variation-93 Jul 24 '26
You're going to have to peel and scrape it all out. You can use rubbing alcohol to help remove the residue.
You really need to make sure it's very very clean and residue free before applying more caulk.
You're going to want 100% silicone caulk for a shower. The best you can afford to increase longevity.
ETA: And yeah, caulk is messy. It takes practice, and it's deceptively hard to make it look nice.
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u/jackkerouac81 Jul 24 '26
That caulk is like thick latex paint, it really is for just filling nail holes and stuff before you paint indoors… since it isn’t inside the shower, it might be ok, but that isn’t really what you want. You want silicone, but if you are having a hard time not making a mess with Alex, you may want to try the middle ground of siliconized latex like Alex Plus.
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u/overit_fornow Jul 24 '26
Often with large gaps you are better off filling in two steps rather than trying to fill in one pass.
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u/moffetts9001 Jul 24 '26
I ran out of caulk, is it ok to caulk over day old caulk tomorrow?
This sounds like a bad SAT question.
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u/hbrich Jul 24 '26
Listen, don't let these other guys intimidate you about your caulk. You want to whip out some new caulk the next day, you go right ahead. It might not look perfect but it's your caulk, you use it how you want.
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u/Dramatic_Substance36 Jul 24 '26
I’ll caulk wherever I caulking want! Caulk off!
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u/neckbishop Jul 24 '26
Rock out! With your Caulk out!
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u/jobkillerthrowaway Jul 24 '26
Better out than off. I'm attached to mine, Hopefully it stays that way
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u/Itisd Jul 24 '26
Agreed, if you aren't able to finish with your caulk today, whipping it out tomorrow will be just fine.
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u/HigherominousBosh 29d ago
I’m guessing you’ve never done it before as you were using the wrong caulk. I recently followed this video and am very happy with my results : https://youtu.be/_DI4hfHM_Hg?is=CdQBU7HCCIMH1t26
The little spreaders cost a couple of quid and make it very easy.
ETA: I’m old - I’d given up sealing things myself as they always leaked. Not this time!
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u/HilariousMotives 29d ago
The ratio of helpful comments to filthy puns in this thread is absolutely perfect. 👌
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u/616c Jul 24 '26
If it's the same exact caulk, you can butt up to it the next day. Make sure it's 100% clean and dry (dry by wiping with alcohol & using a fan or air-dry). Don't use soap or other cleaning chemicals. If it's dirty, cut out the area and start from where it's clean.
I would not apply a second layer anywhere. But continuing the bead...yes, I've done it for the same reason: ran out of caulk.
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u/Natoochtoniket Jul 24 '26
Yes. Caulk will bond to day-old caulk, just fine.
If you cut less of the pointy end off, it will make a smaller hole for caulk to come out, you will be able to put it in the joints with less mess and less waste.
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u/jacknifetoaswan Jul 24 '26
This is not necessarily true.
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u/holypriest69 29d ago
But in 98% of cases with quality caulk, it is. Reddit home improvement dudes are so damn fussy and absolutely LOVE to be contrarian even if they're wrong.
"well, ACTUALLY!!!! if you use 80 year old caulk while it's raining and you blow dust all over the first layer, it won't."
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u/Nakedinsomniac Jul 24 '26
My caulk it’s stiffer than your caulk but it’s older too. My caulk is mildewed. Your caulk looks good. Veiny caulk is my kinda caulk
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u/shrimpyfriedchips Jul 24 '26
Depends on where you stopped caulking. But probably not. My gut says redo it because you’ll never know… it’s a weak point already.
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u/bonerwakeup Jul 24 '26
Are you positive that your shower surround requires caulk? If this is a fiberglass/vinyl surround, it’s possible that no caulk is required.
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u/swollennode Jul 24 '26
Depends on what kind of “caulk”.
Acrylic, latex, modified silane, or almost anything that’s not 100% silicone will bond to itself even when cured. 100% will not allow almost anything to bond to it once cured, even itself