How To Silicone a Bath

In this video, I'll show you how to install

silicone

. Now this isn't painters caulk, it's real

silicone

, it's professional grade stinky stuff and if you don't do it right it will create an absolute mess. mess, so I'm going to show you all my tips and tricks for putting it up and making it look pretty, so we're pretty much at the last stage of our project and this is done: the

bath

tub, the shower, the tiles, the fixtures were all there. Once this is done, now it's time to make the silicone. This is the last step we need to do to finish inside the tub surround and there are some tips and tricks that I'm going to share with you, so follow me as we go.

Through this, when I shower in the

bath

tub, I always want to have two types of silicone, one is clear and the other is white or the color that matches my stone, if I choose the natural brown stones of course. use the page, there are grays and if you go to a good supply store you can get silicone in about 15 different colors, so don't be afraid to shop around and make sure you get the look you want when we're done, but since we have a glass mosaic, I'll start with my clear silicone and we'll do all the clear silicone areas at the same time and then we'll change everything, okay, so here we go first. remove the tip now my cocking gun has a cutter on the side which makes my life simple boom done right and then I also have this little wand that is attached to it it's a little dirty here but it's used because the tube It itself is sealed and I have to pierce the seal so I can release the silicone once I'm done, it's on the back of the handle, put it on the base, line it up, no, I cut it a little at an angle and purpose because I find it . easier to install, one of the things you need when your silicone is, you want to have towels nearby, okay, you want to keep your hands clean and keep your area clean as you go because you pierced it with a dirty stem.

I'm just going to start. To clean it up and make sure that what comes out of the tube is exactly perfect, no, because it's glass mosaic, if I use white silicone here on top of the grout, I'm going to get a very uneven, nasty line all over the glass, so I'm going to start right here and I'll just run a little bead over there, okay? and then I will put my dry finger on it, as soon as I feel that I am accumulating a lot, I will achieve it. Alright, done, that's simple and in this corner just a little bit of pressure, now this particular gun when I let go of the handle, but I have to put some fun pressure here and that releases the pressure inside the tube so the cocking stops. go out and We'll start with the dry finger.

The other place I need clear silicone is on my tile wall. Now, depending on the stone you use, you may or may not need to do this, but since I did a subway tile, I have too much texture on the wall and too many grout lines interrupting my installation, so I want to make sure the water That runs along this wall cannot enter behind my wall. Now I don't need to go all out. upside down, but I want to start from the top with a dry finger, of course, wipe it with the towel and then come upside down, here we go, yeah, the next thing I want to do is a new towel, show you a little trick here, wrap your finger . on your towel and place it on your plate use your other finger against the plate pinch your finger and then just run it around the plate okay what this does is make sure you clean the silicone off the chrome nice and tight to the wall .

It has a good look and finish so we also want to do the same with our bathtub spout and here we are again, we don't need much, there really isn't a space here, but I hear a lot of people worry quite a bit about this. scenario and they're probably right, you know, we have a waterproofing system, there are holes in the wall and this is the most common penetration point around fixtures, just a little bit of pressure here, you don't want to put it. a lot of pressure they clean everything I need you at the same time you don't want to leave it there either, okay, I'm going to clean that similar system to clean it only this time well, I'm holding the towel, I pinch my finger and take out the other finger and use it as if I were writing, well here we go, remember when you buy your silicone at the store, if you go to the hardware store, they usually have three types, okay?

I have kitchen and bathroom silicone and then they have mold and mildew resistant kitchen or bathroom and then they have mold and mildew resistant kitchen and bathroom but it is really amazing and will last 20 years. I've never seen a bathroom that's been hammered for 20 years that didn't need replacing, so I don't spend the extra $5 on something that tells me it's going to last that long. I just get the 10 years and the lids go back on yeah don't lose your teeth they're just plastic oh I mean really yeah there's a lot of debate now about silicone in a bathtub.

I've seen people say you shouldn't touch the inside corners, don't touch the tub with the tile wall, it shouldn't be. grout to ceiling I would like to apply all the sand and seal everything because when I apply silicone I only do one application. I don't want to have to put so much silicone in there that it's just making a big mess. I don't want to have to tape the seal and walls so if I grab first then I have a backing for the silicone to adhere to so what I do is make sure you wear your shoes and do this or you'll slip off immediate. and your socks start from your inside corner with the toe angled like this, so when I apply mine and push them in front of me, but I won't scrape them off the back, I'll just leave enough there.

I'm filling the hole and this really takes a little practice on the right amount of pressure, if you're not comfortable with this you can always tape it off and then you can clean it up and then you can remove the tape later, but this is the best way to do it here, okay, again, dry your finger and I'm really just connecting the ceiling to the wall here and that's it. I feel like there are too many things, so I will bring my rag with me when I come back. you have to go away and come back again go back a couple of inches and gently towards the corner and slowly apply pressure again okay BAM okay so I'm usually working up and down okay I want to be able to clean as I go and I start in the corner and pull and clean, you can see the difference because the cocking is not where the cocking is, it's a visual thing very easy to handle, let me get my advice straight, here we go, just pass it and move. the cocking gun a little bit ahead of the cocking, no, you always clean towards where you were, like you were applying drywall mud on the ceiling joints, so what we're doing here now on this side of the wall because the room was not level and square I have a pretty significant grout gap and when you only sell the oven, the grout up to the ceiling but not the tiles you are really going to see how it shows it will always scream at you so I did the top joint and now I'm filling in the bottom while the top is still wet mixing them in here okay so instead of my finger at an angle like that I'm going straighter now I'm trying to fill this space with silicone all the way to the tile okay? mmm, what about you?

I'm very happy with that. Well, the next thing we'll do is bring it down from the inside corner of the roof and we'll just fill it into the concave. You know, there are cut tiles and different joints here. I remember we have clear here so don't hit the clear what you want to do is use your thumb and just push it back and start right at the joint of the tile okay visually I want my silicone to start where my tile ok and still the grout is ok but don't put it down with a glass as it will look very cheesy and it will scream so now I start from the top with my finger and press it to dry that's it ok of course , keep it up.

Always remember to look to see if the tile has been polished properly. Okay, if there's some dust in there, take a second and get rid of it. You don't want your cocking to collect dust or you'll just end up cleaning it all up. Okay, now we're done with silicon on our walls with the silicon in the bathtub, but before we get to work, remember when we were originally working on this project. If you haven't seen this, you should check out the other videos we were in. Remove the wall without damaging the ceiling, which is difficult because they had drywall tape.

Now we install our tiles and use silicone on the ceiling so that the ceilings are already finished painting if you are in a situation where you have to paint your ceiling you only have two options, you can wait to apply silicone until you have finished painting or if you're just trying to touch it up and you have silicone on the ceiling, you can do that when it's dry, you can put painter's tape on top of that to create an edge and then you go to the store and buy a can of Kills Kill Z. It's in the paint in a spray can and you just take a couple quick shots that kill with silicone and you can paint latex paint.

Other than that, you won't have any problems, so the last thing we need to do is apply silicone around the tub and tiles to create that nice clean joint. Remember that it is not part of the waterproofing process, but it is part of What makes it look nice now? If you're not familiar with acrylic tubs and you've only used steel, then you can go ahead and do it with a steel tub, you just do the seal and go, but if you have an acrylic tub in there. is something you have to do before you use the silicone and that is put weight in the tub okay and the best way to do that is to just turn on the water and let it fill halfway so now the reason why we have to do this is because it is a very flexible material and although it has supports and all kinds of spray underneath, if I were to demonstrate any other technique for a large majority of subs sold out there, I would be disappointed that not all tubs have as much support underneath or both a lot of fiberglass reinforced spray underneath, so if you go to the hardware store and buy a tub and get a great price, it's probably because when you fill it with water it will sink nicely and move away. from the wall a little bit and if you add the silicone when it's empty, when it separates, it will break the joint and then you will get all the water and dirt and behind it, and even though it is waterproof, it will start to get ugly because it will trap all the colors from the dyes, the shampoos and the dirt on you and then before you know it, a couple of weeks go by and your silicone gasket looks like garbage, then you have to do it all over again. again and that's a lot more work than doing it right the first time, so the same kind of process we're going to put our gun in the corner and we're not going to add too much, like again, I've already grounded that joint and I've grown on the joint because I use a tub that is reinforced and has feet and I know you're not going to move it much so I'm not going to break that, I take my cloth, I put my finger in the corner and I felt a lot of silicone there, okay, then there was too much.

What I do is push against the back wall and not at the bottom and just clean the edge. Here we go. A lot of this is just experience, but a little. of practice and you can be very good at this and I suggest that if you are going to do a renovation project like this, before you destroy everything, cut the existing silicone on your ugly bathtub and tile and then try to seal it again. You get a chance to gain some experience with the product that way. When you're ready to do the finishing work, you already know what type of pressure to use and how comfortable you are with this type of process.

Now, this is incredibly important. Here what you need. good pressure on the silicone because this joint is part of its waterproofing system. This isn't just for the sake of being pretty. Most of the water penetrates between the bathtub and the tile. It's in this area of ​​the wall. Right here there is no waterproof joint after the silicone between the. wall board and tub there is a nice light drop, leave a little dough on top of course you know the pressure I'm using here. I want to really feel the tub and the tile with my finger on both sides swinging around the corner.

Here we go, nice and clean, okay, yeah, where I'm going. I cannot stress the importance of having clean towels on hand; toilet paper works too, but it's nice and durable, okay, so now we're ready to roll that last joint. which of course is from the tub to the tile, make sure you vacuum, make sure there's no dirt and the same thing you want to leave, that bill is really moving here and at a nice steady pace with constant pressure and you'll end up with a great result now this is part of the waterproofing system this silicon is actually going to prevent water from getting between the tub and the floor tiles so I'm actually trying to force it into the gaps here so it takes a little bit A little more effort to get it right because I'm actually forcing it pretty hard.

I'm placing it on the side of the tub wall and all over the floor,so like I said, it's a little bit of a different process here, okay this time. I'm going to put all the pressure on my finger on the floor and not in the tub just so I can move that line back. You can only do this with the drive finger. If your fingers get wet, you'll just smudge it and make a mess, so remember that the last thing you're going to do is take a look at the wall and floor tiles and think about the water potentially getting up here, especially if you have small children having a bathtub here seals this area as well, just a small bead, so it's almost negligible, okay, and there are two things you're doing here, one is eliminating the little gaps and cracks and finishing so that it always seals. look pretty.

It's also cosmetic, but by filling this with silicone you are also waterproofing this joint. Well, that's all you need to know to apply the silicone again. The steps are quite basic. A lot of pressure. Make sure you fill in the spaces. Make sure the surfaces are nice. and clean it and then let it dry, don't be in a hurry, most of these silicones you want 612 even 24 hours, so read the instructions on the can, everyone will have that information there, let all of this sit with the water in the tub for the night. sure and then maybe in the morning you can come and drain it and wash it all and see if you've missed anything, if you've missed anything, you want the touch-ups done within 24 hours, okay?

You let everything rinse perfectly and then add silicone on top of silicone, it doesn't stick very well so the next morning is the time you want to take a look, if you have air bubbles get them out right away and your bath will stay nice . and dry yourself