Caulking the Bathtub

When it comes to giving baths, be prepared to wash the bathroom floor after the bath if your child is a fish like my 34 month old is. I usually end up with water everywhere. So when my husband and father-in-law painted our bathroom last year, I asked that the caulking be redone around that bathtub (I was pregnant with my son and the time, so I supervised from afar). Our tub had been removed the plumber a few times to fix a leaking header which would drip into our downstairs powder room. The resulting caulking job from the plumber was not to my standard. Not that my standards are super high, but if it is worth doing it is worth doing well.

Being pregnant did not stop me from being helpful in the gopher way--as in honey go for this. During my lunch breaks at work, I would go pick up supplies at the hardware store and this is where I learned how to apply latex caulking. The gentleman in the paint department explained that you want to cut the tube applicator as small as possible so that the bead that will come out is just big enough to cover the widest crack between the wall and ceramic or wall and tub or whatever combo you have in your house.

So I instructed my father-in-law how to do this:

1. Remove the old caulking using a tool you can find in the hardware store. I actually did this because I needed to patch the walls with "putty" and sand it down before painting the bathroom.
2. Clean out the dust and debris so the caulking can adhere better.
3. Only draw a line of caulking about a foot at a time.
4. Pass your finger on the line after using lots of water on your finger. You don't want the caulking sticking to you.
5. Ventilate the room as best you can. You see as caulking dries it gives off an acetic acid (vinegar) smell. Being preggers at the time, I couldn't stand the smell of caulking.
6. Let dry for about 24 hours.

The job has now been done for a year, and I have to say my father-in-law did as good a job as the plumber did.