timmmay:

 

eracode:

 

I have done it in the shower in our previous home. You can buy ‘silicone sealant remover’ from Bunnings. Cut away the excess with a snap-knife, paint on the remover, leave it a while, clean it off.

 

Re-do with new silicone in a caulking gun and clean off the excess with plastic finishing tools I linked above. It’s really not difficult to get a pro-looking job.

 

 

Getting the old stuff off sounds easy enough. The problem I have is when I use a caulking gun I can never squeeze it quite smoothly - some bits have none, some bits have too much. So I try to smooth the stuff where I put too much to where I put not enough, it's wider some places than others, etc. The stuff the pro did is dead straight and uniform. Only way I could go that straight is with tape!

 

When I use sealers now I usually use the no more gaps that pushes itself out with a button, but I have to use a proper gun for this as it only comes that way.

 

Maybe I should just hire someone to do it, but they all said it's a 4-6 hours work and will cost $500 - $600. I really only need one side of the shower done too.

 

I think the secrets to an even bead when applying the sealant are: steady and gentle even pressure on the gun trigger, maintain a constant angle and constant speed with the gun, and don’t clip the nozzle with a hole that’s too big - keep it small. Hold the gun at about 45 degrees, start at one end of the run and do it all in one pass - try to avoid going back to patch it up. Squeeze the sealant ahead of the direction of travel and so that the nozzle tip itself becomes a sort of initial gauge scraper for an even bead as it passes over the expelled sealant as you move it forward.

Then use the plastic gauge scrapers I linked above to finish it off. If you’ve applied the sealant in the way I’ve tried to describe, there shouldn’t be too much excess and the scraper won’t be removing a lot of excess.

And use masking tape as others have mentioned - I meant to say that in the earlier post. Remove the tape prior to using the scraper to get a smooth ride for the scraper.