Using Silicone Caulk: Helpful Tips and Proper Clean Up
Dave SolbergDescription
Silicone is an important part to maintaining and keeping items in your RV properly sealed. It can be used around windows and cap seals. However, using silicone caulk can be very messy and difficult to clean up. Here are just a few tips to help make using silicone caulk easier and allow for quick clean up.
If you are going to be using silicone caulk in excess, be careful because it can drip and could be difficult to wipe off RV surfaces. When applying silicone, use a pair of synthetic gloves to apply it to desired surface. Place a bead of silicone at one side of the surface and using your gloved finger, rub it along the entire area you want sealed. Once done you can simply remove and throw out the glove, eliminating any mess on your hands and drips down the sidewalls of the RV.
When using silicone caulk, look for a paddle that is designed with different angles to spread the silicone bead out over the surface you want sealed. This method also ensures you never have to touch the silicone and it comes out with a nice, even and smooth finish.
If the silicone gets on the side of the RV, get it off of the surface as soon as possible. If you let it sit it will start to solidify and attract dust and dirt. This makes removal even more difficult. There are products you can purchase to help remove silicone from the hands and surfaces of the RV. Some products include lighter fluid, rubbing alcohol or any type of acetate. These are old school methods and if you choose to use these to remove the silicone you will need to be very careful and should not be used on decals or fiberglass.
Another great cleaner when using silicone caulk is Goo Gone, which is very mild and will do a variety of different clean ups, including hands.
When using silicone caulk, take some precautions and find the materials that work best for you. This makes it possible to make the best of a messy situation and keeps your RV properly sealed.
Silicone is an important part of keeping our RV sealed but it can be very, very messy. A couple of tips when using silicone, first of all if you're gonna be doing a lot of it and wiping it off of around windows, cap, ceiling that type of stuff, I would use one of the a synthetic gloves like this, the rubberized gloves. I can just put that on, run my fingers across it. Then I don't have it all over myself. It's nice and smooth so I don't have to worry about the bead I leave on the side of the RV. There are a couple of other things like this little paddle here, they make a variety of different angles. So I don't even have to touch the silicone. I just simply run it along the edge like this. They do make different angles so I can put a larger bead on it. If I have a straight 90 or a different type of crease that I'm, that I'm going across here, the important thing is if you get silicone on the side of an RV, you want to get it off as soon as possible. Because if you leave it on, it's gonna start to attract dust, dirt, it's gonna blacken. And then it's also gonna be really hard to get off and this happens to be one that we, we put on here a little earlier, and you can see that it, it doesn't wipe off very well. It still stays in here. Now there are some products on the market. There are some silicones that you can actually buy that will clean up with water and soap. However, most of those are not really good for outside use, they're not gonna dry as well. It's gonna take a lot longer and they, they just don't seal quite as well. So we need to look at some products that we can take this off with. Now, the old school guys would just use lighter fluid or they would use rubbing alcohol or product called a D 12, any type of acetate. You gotta be careful with these if you're taking it off fiberglass or decals, especially, you don't wanna ruin that surface. You don't wanna ruin the gel coat on fiberglass but this one you can see here, we just put a little bit on and it does wipe it off fairly well. Now the problem with this again, it's, you know it's a pretty caustic material, if I get some on my hands, which I seem to do all the time when I'm working with silicone, it's really sticky. There's a product on the market here that I like it's called Goo Gone and this just very mild. It will do a variety of different cleanups, but you just put a little bit of this on here, move these away. And we seeing inside the nails. And the thing I like about is I got to, I got a little bit of dry skin here anyway, and I got a few cracks, you know in some scrapes and stuff like that. If I were to use the lighter fluid it would be stinging pretty well. This stuff is very mild, it doesn't hurt my hands at all and as you can see, it takes silicone off very well. So if you're working with silicone, you know take a little precautions, find some of the materials that works best for you and and you can make the best of a messy situation.
You forgot the most important tip, tape each side of where u need to apply sealant. Apply, wipe, remove tape, remove gloves, perfect results every time
What about using Geocel 28100V Pro Flex Crystal Clear RV Flexible Sealant? I plan on removing my old caulking on the molding/trim and re-caulk. The reviews I research has good response.
I was always told that silicone and aluminum do not play well together. Have I been given misinformation?