To prevent water damage and mold on tubs, showers, sinks, and re-caulking, it is fixes cracked, peeling, or broken caulk. Applying fresh caulk may seem like an insignificant part of renovating your shower, but it shall freshen and brighten your bathroom considerably.
A reasonably simple home renovation exercise, especially for beginners, re-caulking around shower mold makes this essential space look great. Re-caulking is a functional element of bathroom and shower maintenance, ensuring proper operation and keeping you safe from hazards brought about by mold or mildew.
What is Shower Mold?
While available in plenty, mold loves dark places such as the indoors where it’s dank and warm. Conditions for mold growth and reproduction are especially right in your bathroom, shower, and sink. Black mold can become perennial if not dealt with, particularly around your shower, where it can thrive and take residence.
Mold can turn off your showering comforts, and the black staining on caulked surfaces and joints is unhygienic. When you leave mold untouched, it thrives and grows since the humid shower environment is conducive to its reproduction. Tearing down caulk and redoing the bead may be the right solution as sooner than later, the mold will be back.
Caulk makes the shower impervious to water, but mold makes it quickly discolor, shrink, wear or crack, leading to damage on the wall behind it. Maintain your bathroom, including shower fixtures with fresh beads of caulk, which is guaranteed to make your private space appear brand new.
Black mold, in particular, is gross and can harm your health. For instance, the Stachybotrys Chartarum variety that is highly toxic and should be dealt with by a professional. The frequency of running water and the moisture content within your shower leads to the growth of mold if these surfaces are not dried up.
Mold feeds on the soap suds containing body oils which wash off the sides of your shower surroundings and from the evaporated humid water droplets that remain behind. Poor shower ventilation and humidity from hot showers create surfaces on caulk that mold attaches to.
Can You Clean Caulk to Prevent Mold from Returning to Your Shower?
Caulk is a flexible and thick, adhesive material, serving as a sealant for the shower surround and fixture joints. Applying caulk requires that you use a caulking gun, curing it to dryness around faucets, sinks, and where the shower tiles meet the ceiling.
Other places that require re-caulking around mold include the side bottoms of your shower surround, around showerheads, and in the grout. Mold will also grow in the window frame of showers, and on door tracks if your bath has doors. You can find moldy, dark spots, or stains around the shower drain, shampoo bottles, soap bars, shaving cream, and even the shower curtain.
Re-caulk your bathroom with mold or mildew resistant caulk designed for a shower cubicle, ceramic tile, or glass enclosure.
Removing Old Molded Caulk and Re-caulking the Shower Enclosure
You no longer have to deal with black mold stains, cracks, peels, or breaks on your shower molds caulk. In almost no time, you can re-caulk and come up with astonishing results, and the first task is putting your tools together.
Initially, when re-caulking your shower around the mold, you need to select the waterproof tile or tub-style caulk. You can either chose;
- Silicone caulk: This is a sturdy waterproof solution that offers excellent flexibility, but can become tricky to handle when applying. Silicone caulk is also more difficult to remove, seeing as it’s sensitive to uneven surfaces or shower cubicle tile textures. Replacements and reapplications are not usually needed with silicone caulk, which lasts long and is white, almond, or clear presentation.
- Acrylic latex: This caulk is made of more plausible material, and effortlessly smooth’s onto many surface textures. Acrylic latex caulk is also easy to remove, but it dries harder and is prone to crack, causing shrinkage. Presentation of acrylic latex caulk is varied, with colors that will match your shower’s décor perfectly.
Other tools that you will collect before starting to re-caulk around shower mold include painter’s knife, an abrasive scrubber, and rags or cloth towels.
Cleaning out the Molded Caulk
There is no other way around cleaning moldy caulk other than removing it, cleaning the surfaces, and re-caulking all over again. Mold resistant caulk will then help prevent water seepage while keeping mold off your shower surrounds and between bathroom tiles.
Most mold removal methods that won’t involve removing and redoing caulking only I’ve around 50 to 60 percent satisfaction rate, and mold frequently grows back within a week or two.
Replacing the Entire Tub Surround
In most instances, the mold is growing around your shower surround is because water has leaked into the wall or board behind the cubicle. An improperly fixed or worn-out shower surrounds, and misaligned tiles can let moisture seep through to get trapped in the walls. Moisture from a poorly fixed shower grout will advance the growth of mold and mildew.
Replacing the entire shower cubicle area can seem impractical, but when damp has affected the wall and boards, it’s the best solution.
Cleaning and Re-caulking the Caulk Seams
When the walls behind your shower cubicle are dry, then the mold problem is with your shower’s caulk seams themselves. Instead of fixing what isn’t broken, remove the caulk bead using a flat razor blade after loosening the seam under both edges.
Scrape off the bead without plying, which could break your razor, and clean off the joints with concentrated baking soda paste.
After a thorough cleaning, it’s time to reapply the caulk, and a tub and tile mold-resistant variety will do. Lay a smooth, clean caulk bead, taking care not to get caulk sticking all over the place as results could be sloppy.
To lay the most professional caulk bead, pull the tube of caulk down the corners and joints while keeping an even pressure to push caulk forward. Before starting to re-caulk your shower, cut the tube’s opening just the right size, angling your cut for a smooth, clean bead. A utility knife will help you cut the smallest opening at first, and you can expand this slightly if the caulk bead is too difficult to squeeze out.
Cut the tube at a 45-degree angle, to the size of a typical wire coat hanger, and fold over the tube to maintain equal bead. Size the caulk bead so that only a tiny amount will wipe off when a finger is run over it. Make sure that as the caulk tube empties your fingers, you maintain the pouring pressure as you continue to re-pressurize it by folding off the spent ends.
After finishing your caulk bead, smooth it up and wipe off the excess application with a rag. Check to see that all corners and joints within the shower surrounds are well caulked to alleviate water or moisture seepage.
Maintain a Mold Free Shower Enclosure by Re-caulking Often.
Let the setup set for an entire day before you can take a shower, and maintain a mold-free environment by reducing as much moisture after using the shower surround. Re-caulking your shower may appear challenging, but, as with all DIY projects, gets better with practice.
Next time the mold overruns your showering cubicle, remove the old caulk and re-caulk
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