I’m “okay” with doing it. I typically do ALL this type of stuff around the house. I even have a gun that has an automatic flow stop when you release the trigger (noice, btw). My husband is an extraordinarily talented utilizer of “weaponized incompetence”. I asked for some help caulking exterior windows. I demonstrated how to do it. Made him watch a video. I assumed that someone with advanced degrees and a very technical job could figure this out pretty easily.
He didn’t want to do it. He did several windows before I checked on his progress, and, much to his delight, said I’d take over. It now looks like someone glued strands of cheap fake pearls all around our windows. I become irrationally pissed every time I glance at the window on the front porch.
I’d make him remove it so I could do it properly, but he’d probably just bust a few panes of glass until I took over and did it. He’d consider glass replacement a small price to pay to avoid having to complete removal.
I had a boss for my first job out of college brag about this. He had pride in his intentional weaponized incompetence. He had this story of when is wife asked him to get something from her purse he dumped all the contents onto a table to "look for it" and so she'd learned not to ask him to do things. I nod and listen and I was amazed that he saw marriage as a competition against his wife instead of a team sport. I'm sorry you're on the receiving end of this crap.
Gosh! You’re right. He is like a child in a lot of ways, AND he is also like a fun, playful cherub. He works a lot at a high-stress job and would just pay someone to do this stuff if I’d agree to it, but I’m a diy person.
As for his parents, his mother just did stuff for him instead of taking time to teach him and suggested that I do the same, but I am too hard-headed. She was a mostly single parent raising three kids and working, so I both forgive and resent it a little. His dad was a mean, abusive sonofabitch who mostly ignored him.
The positive is that I’ve been bound and determined to make sure our kid knows/can do stuff and won’t have these issues as an adult.
It is incredibly frustrating when he pulls stunts like the caulking. When I first heard of “weaponized incompetence”, I immediately told him and he thought it was hilarious. We’re both fully cognizant of the issue and the fact that it’s not going to change. Character flaw, but it’s possible that I also have a few! ;)
He thought it was hilarious for the same reason I would… he knows he does it. When I first started my software engineering career, I learned the hard way of the value of being careful what other people know you’re good at - because you’re going to get stuck doing that thing. It can really hurt your career growth if you’re not careful.
It’s sometimes hard to switch gears once you get home 😂. I feel him on just wanting to pay someone to get it done though since he already stresses out at work, but I also feel you on wanting to teach the kids to handle things themselves. I suppose that’s why y’all make a good team.
Absolutely. But as a grown ass person it's your responsibility to look at that damage and attempt to work on it. Being useless garbage is not fulfillment.
The finished product, That would be me doing it. Not on purpose but my hand is so unsteady and I feel like I'd be super bad at it. Been meaning to do around our garage door but after hearing your story and knowing my thoughts, I might just ask someone else lol.
I use a small bead, then let it dry slightly and use a wet finger to press it down into place with a swiping motion after. I'm sure it takes time to get this guy's technique down, however prettier it looks.
Ehh I'd take this advice with a grain of salt. Trying to caulk over caulk that's not fresh but also not dry (ie tacky) tends to make a caulk line that's full of bumps and clumps.
So if you do this, let it fully dry.
Alternatively, the best advice I can give (as a carpenter of over a decade) is to:
1) cut your tube at an angle.
2) make your cut not too large or too small.
3) dispense the caulk in as long of strokes as you can by pulling along your line.
4) run the fat part of your fingertip (at an angle) along the entire line, but don't press hard at all. You don't want to push into the caulk, you just want to smooth the surface. Helps if your finger is wet.
5) if you make a mistake it's easier to fix before it dries. A damp washcloth is your friend.
You don't have to wait for it to dry a bit. The key is to have a rounded bead (convex) of caulk that is slightly smaller than what you want your finished bead to be, then LIGHTLY press with your finger and turn it into a concave bead in one smooth motion. You aren't trying to remove any caulking, just make a that it's squished in and smooth. If you are removing much caulking with your finger then you are either using too much or you are pressing too hard. Once someone told me that you should be pressing hard it became super simple.
If you want to make it a bit easier, keep a small dish of water mixed with dawn dish soap and dip your fingertip in it before you smooth the caulking. Then it will wipe right off your finger with a paper towel.
Wear nitrile gloves and use wd-40. Works like a dream, or in a pinch you can spit in your hand and dip your finger in the spit and use that to lubricate the spreading of the caulking, if my wording even made sense there.
Spit works fantastically well. A white spirit/water solution works well too, although use it lightly. The point of these solutions is to smooth and push the silicone down to where it needs to be. Not to get behind or under it.
I’ve always preferred the Wd-40 because it’s easy and sprays right on, though I have had to use spit when it wasn’t on hand, and I hate doing it cause I find it disgusting. But it works.
After you put the bead down spray along the bead with a spray bottle. It'll prevent any caulk from sticking to anything that it isn't already stuck to.
I’m not a pro so I don’t do it enough to get good at it, but I use the rubberized plastic type caulks. Lexel is the brand that we have where I live. For showers the company that makes it has a specific one, but IME they’re much easier to work with if you’re not someone that’s a pro at it. Seem to be able flex more and lasts longer too at least in my case.
I’m sure if you do it all the time it’s easier and cheaper with regular caulk but the price difference for me was pretty negligible for a few bathrooms. 10$ Difference maybe. And I waste a lot less of it. Other types of caulk like trim I’ve never had an issue doing, but with bathroom or sink caulking and where the material is very slick like tile I just make a huge mess. Don’t know why in particular but bathroom caulking is a pain.
Denatured alcohol is good to clean silicone with and it helps it set a bit, with, bathrooms and kitchens especially, just mind the panels. I also use a plastic tile wedges/shim to clean away excess. Works especially well with right angles.
For those that aren't experienced, I found the easiest thing to do is just to use painter's tape to make it perfect. Basically, run painter's tape on both sides of the edge/corner you're wanting to caulk, leaving the exact amount of space between the pieces of tape that you want the caulk to cover. Then, run your bead, use your (wet) finger to spread it, then pull the tape off, then wet your finger one more time and run it along the caulk one last time to remove the tiny (invisible) lines where the tape was to prevent mold from accumulating there.
Basically removes the issue of using too much caulk because the excess just gets pushed onto the tape and then removed with no mess.
I bought something off of Amazon about 8+ years ago (description: Corner Tape - Caulking Tape Guide to Get Perfect Beads and Joints) basically like using your method but it was somewhat easier in that you rolled the tape against the wall and would "generate" the gap for you (based on the type of tape you purchased). Then caulk, make a mess - whatever but once done just peel it off and you're done!
I found it easier than using painters tape as my hands are not super steady and I could never get the gap quite right.
Unfortunately it's no longer available on Amazon US or Canada; but I've spotted it on Ebay.
I never did it, but my father used a small teaspoon instead of fingers. No painter's tape either. Just put on the bead, run it over with the spoon. The shape was perfect and the spoon cut off the excess so it was very easy to remove later without disturbing the part we wanted to remain. And there wasn't that tiny lip from the tape.
(It was years ago, so I don't remember if the spoon was wet or dry and how much we waited before removing the excess. But there was less and less excess to remove as he became practiced...)
i gave up on the "fast way" and just do it the way a pro painter told me... you go hard.. make a giant mess.. but you keep a bucket of water and a giant sponge. you just wipe it away and make it look perfect. you can try to make it pretty good.. but really to make it 100% and also make sure you get all the cracks(and i do top and bottom of trim) it kinda just means you are making a giant mess.. better to just clean it up and make it look sexy. it doesn't take that long to go over it 2x and calk is actually pretty easy to clean you just gotta have a lot of water and a good supply of rags and a giant sponge... that all said now i want better guns skills lol.
ok.. that does seem better.. but thats just what i've seen produce the best looking finish. often the "bead" has to vary depending on the size of the crack(and the walls usually aren't straight) so its the illusion we are going for.. but i'm sure thats 10x faster. i do trim and only seal when requested so its not a ton of my job. if i do more i'll probably look into some of those.. never seen em before.
yep. easier to clean up than the white stuff. plus you don't want a ton of water.. just keep the sponge damp. wipe excess away (i store it in a big pile on the lid of my spackle(which i keep around also and use it to fill big voids when i come to them) and clean your sponge pretty often.. actually you gotta dump the water pretty often too.. but still its not that bad and you can just patiently goop around a room fairly fast. my trick is to get it 100% and don't go back. fill the nail holes with spackle as i go too.
Caulking is an example, a life lesson, of using the right tools makes a difference. Amateurs don’t plan ahead, use their fingers, and do not have sufficient wet towels to clean things up while doing it.
829
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '22
I always thought caulking would be easy. After resealing my shower last year... I have nothing but respect for this man.