Looking for a certain kind of caulk.

[mack]

Thankyou for letting me join your forum and ask a question. I'm looking for a caulk that hardens. It's what I used when I first installed my corner shower kit. It bonded to the shower walls, base, and the painted alluminum frame. Making it one solid piece. I had to chip it off with a screwdriver and hammer but it came off. It hardened like plastic. I don't know if it hardened like that because it had been there for 10 yrs. or so. It yellowed but worked great. I'm thinking acrylic is plastic and latex stays flexible. Do they make just an acrylic caulk or will it all have latex? Do you know if it's latex acrylic caulk I'm looking for? The manfacturer recommends latex acrylic caulk with less than 40% silicone but when I ask what name to look for. I was told it's hard to find and that was it. I can't use 100% silicone for sure because it won't adhere to the base. Thankyou.

[jimbo]

I don't know why silicone wont stick; but DAP QwikSeal is a good brand of lated caulk. ( "latex" doesn't really mean anything except it is water based. Good latex paints or caulks have a high percentage of acrylic compounds as opposed to chaulk or clay or other junk)

[mack]

Thankyou for your help and reply jimbo. I was left a little confused about the silicone. The manufactureres website said silicone won't stick to the base. But then when I called them they recommended a certain brand of kitchen and bath silicone. I thought I had the right caulk I was looking for when I used the Dap Kwik Seal kitchen and bath adhesive caulk. But after letting it dry for over 1 1/2 days. I turned the shower on to check for leaks. Well it leaked. So let it dry out for 2 more days and it was still wet. So I put the hair dryer to it. But couldn't get it all to dry up. So decided to take it apart, clean it again, and redo it all. Well the caulk on the outsides were dry. But the caulk on the inside was all wet and runny. I'm guessing it never completely dryed cause it couldn't evaporate good. And when water got in there it broke down. That's the only thing I can figure out cause the caulk didn't look bad to me when I put it down.

[PEW]

You may want to look at the recommended drying / curing time. They usually list how long to wait before allowing water to come in contact. The time for a complete cure is considerably longer. I would not be at all concerned that it was still wet under the skin after a couple of days.

[mack]

Just posting my results. Maybe someone can learn from my mistakes and heartache. Either I bought the wrong kind of Dap kitchen & bath adhesive caulk for my purppose. Or I bought from a bad batch. I was leary about using the same stuff again. But I thought it's not likely the other tube will be bad. Just in case I did use a siliconized acrylic latex caulk from a different brand to go between the alluminum frame and the base. So after 10 days of drying time. I checked the shower and it didn't leak. So I took a shower in it. Well the Dap caulk I used to seal around the base and the shower walls where they meet just started peeling off. It turned soft a mushy. The tube says a waterproof seal. But it can't take much water at all before it starts breaking down. I regreat I didn't use the siliconized acrylic latex caulk for the whole thing.

[jimbo]

Your experience is unusual. Virtually any caulk should provide at least in the begining a proper seal on a tub. The differences would then be in how long they lasted, mildew resistance, flexibility, etc.

I so suspect that you got a bad batch. Possibly if you contact DAP they will reimburse or at least replace it.

This would not be the first time that a bad batch of caulk got around. It doesn't happen often, but it has happened before.

[troedel22]

Same thing happened to me. Used DAP kwik seal on new bathroom about 3-4 weeks ago. I had an area that was sligthly thicker than normal between tub and showerwall, maybe 3/8 of an inch. Now, it is falling apart, the caulk looks like it is un-drying if that is even possible. I am going to replace with silicone caulk, I just hope this doesn't happen to the rest of the kwik seal in the bathroom cause I put it everywhere!!

[master plumber mark]

the stuff that is really mean is poly seam seal.

it literally turns into a hardened seal and is nearly impossible to chip off.

the downside to the stuff is it takes about a week to really harden into place....


Dap clear silicoone is the absolute best you can use too,

it has to be 100% pure silicone, NOT the Acrylic stuf

[captwally]

Anyone try 3M's 5200? I mean if you want caulk that stays, that would be it! It is not acrylic or latex, but a polysulfide. Yeah, it takes a week to cure, but once it does, it's not going anywhere. It is also expensive, found in marine supply stores. It will cure under water which is why it is used for marine applications below the waterline.

[cmw]

The DAP kitchen & bath caulk that is not silicone based will never cure if used to replace a silicone based caulk such as the GE kitchen & bath caulk. The silicone is incompatible with non-silicone based caulk. DAP does not warn you about this in their instructions on the tube of caulk. However, if you call their toll free customer service # (on the tube) they will explain this incompatibility to you.

[koa]

3M also makes a faster setting version of their 5200. The 100% silicone should work fine. I'm just installing a Work Right shower door and Work Right recommended GE Silicone II. Make sure the tile and aluminium are clean with no residue. If you tape off everywhere you don't want the chaulk, it makes a much cleaner job. Smooth out chaulk with tape on, pull tape off before chalk skins, smooth one last time.