Trouble removing excess silicone from sink

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Mntentman

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Hi,

I installed a new pop up assembly (Peerless) in this sink, and made a bit of a mess of it, I guess by not getting the excess silicone all cleaned off quickly enough. Still, I figured I would be able to get it removed, got to be a fairly common problem, I would think. But this stuff just doesn't seem to want to come off... that spot at the 7 o'clock position especially. I suppose the best route is to disassemble, scrub it, and redo, being a little more careful. But I'm concerned I still won't be able to get those marks off. I am wondering if there is something I could clean it with that would get it off? Lacking that, it is possible to find a slightly larger flange that I could replace the current one with to cover up any discoloring I can't get off? Thanks!
 

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Mntentman

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Thanks, all. You're right... I should have used putty, but I wasn't thinking. Instructions said silicone, I used silicone.
 

Jimbo

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There are some well-known colleagues on the internet that use silicone exclusively. In my experience, the secret with silicone is cleanup before it sets. You need to treat it just like you do dap.....smoothing the bead if there is one, and totally wiping the excess. The caveat is that of course you can't do this with a wet finger or damp rag. You must use solvent. Two that work well are denatured alcohol ( not rubbing alcohol ) and mineral spirits.

For your situation, you should be able to carefully scrape with something very sharp. That can be a carefully split popsicle stick, a new plastic putty knife, or even a sinlge edge razor blade. Held at a low angle, that will not damage the porcelain.

LEARN SOMETHING EVERY DAY: Found this on a GE Silicone website:


  • [*]Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) is a commonly-used solvent and has proven useful for most non-porous substrates encountered in architectural construction applications. Xylene and Toluene have also been found useful on many substrates. When handling solvents, refer to manufacturer’s MSDS for inform

Isopropyl is rubbing alcohol, and I had always used denatured methanol, because I thought it was 'better' !!! It is cheaper.
 
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Mntentman

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I dissembled the popup to better get at the staining. Tried razor blade, Goof-Off, etc. but nothing worked. Then I tried a pumice "scour stick" and it worked great... took a little elbow grease but it's all nice and clean now. Going to use putty when I reassemble...
 

LLigetfa

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I spent a lot of years in rental units where the landlord or handyman lathered way too much silicone everywhere, sometimes leaving handmark smudges all over that later harbored mold. I vowed never to use silicone except where necessary and to carefully mask off the area to not get it all over.

Glad you got it cleaned off and hopefully you won't discover other smudges after mold sets in.
 

Cwhyu2

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We used to use zippo lighter fluid it contains napatha and worked great tooling and cleaning uncured silicone.
 

Cassix

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when when you use silicone, put a bead down then spray denatured alcohol all over it. Soak it really good and then wipe your bead up and wherever the denatured alcohol is sprayed, silicone will not stick to it. If it's too late and it's already dried up and it's stuck, get some stuff called graffiti remover, it works like a charm and it doesn't stain anything or discolor anything.
 
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