What is the best way to reseal round my shower?

I want to put new sealant round the edge of my shower. What is the beat way to get rid of the old sealant and reseal. Come on all you plumbers!! Please bear in mind I am female.

"Come on all you plumbers"

LOL do you think you will find a plumber at midday on a Tuesday?

Scrape old sealant with a sharp blade like a Stanley Knife.

Then apply silicone with a gun. Any hardware store will sell you both for between 拢5 and 拢10

This is not a plumbers ???? This is normal home maintinance.. Plumbers usually don t use the type of CAULK you need the not the way some people spell it.. You need a PURE silicone caulk costing 5/6$ If it says water clean up then its not the type you want.. Like others have said clean away old and make sure shower is clean and dry before caulking.. Consider practicing w/ the caulk or buying an extra tube it s not the easiest to work w/ and get a nice looking bead laid down..Cost wise I d charge 50$ to show up and 25$ an hour there after so it s good job for you to do yourself because of the cost GL you can do it

"Please bear in mind I am female."

Thanks for representing so well. (rolls eyes)

You have to remove the old CAULK (not "cock" as Brandi M indicated) and make sure you get it all off both surfaces, using a razor knife. Then before the apply anything the area must be completely dry. You can use blue painters tape to make application a little neater. Apply the caulk with a gun and use your moistened finger to smooth it into the crack. You may have to apply more if your line (the bead) wasn't wide enough to fill it in all the way. Let it dry according to the package recommendations, so you can't use your shower for a while.

To make it easy to remove the old silicon use this:-

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/50080/Seal...

An alternative to silicon is this, it's very good and easier to work with and sets hard but flexible ( Also available at B&Q ):-

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-2-...

Use a brand new Stanley knife to remove the old sealant then use silicone sealant.The gun is pretty cheap and common sense for the rest.

get a professional in it shouldn't cost too much money and they problem will be solved instantly
personal experience

you can peel the cock off all the way around or scrape it off and re-cock it i did it one time but use a gun or its hard to squeeze out then smooth it w your fingers you dont need the smoother tool

want me to do it for you - i've got just the tool to plug any holes!!

however if you don't want my assistance then just peel off the old sealant so all surfaces are clean and just put your sealant tube (silicone sealant is good) in the gun/dispenser. cut the nozzle to the same size as the gap and just squeeze the trigger and move the nozzle over the gap in a continuous motion and keep squeezing to force out the sealant from the tube.

here's the messy part

once you've got some sealant in place all round, wet your finger with spit or water and press the sealant into the gap and move yer finger over the sealant. The moisture on your finger will stop the sealant sticking to your finger.

once done you're left with a nice smooth surface on the sealant

What does being female have to do with it?

First there are 2 types of caulk water clean up and mineral spirits clean up. I would try the water clean up type first (for obvious reasons) BUT it may not stick to ALL types of shower stalls.

There are two ways to go about this. The first way is the way I see homeowners do it all the time. Scrape away the looses stuff and put a bigger fatter coat of new caulk over the old stuff that they didn't get off.

OR

The best way is to remove the old grout with a combination of tools. A sharp (as in new blade) razor knife or box cutter and a sharp chisel. and then some clean up.

The most important thing to remember is you do not want to cut or gauge your shower. If your shower is fiberglass then it is easily cut or gauged if you are not careful.

Run the blade of the razor knife paralel to the wall/floor/corner so as to break the seal (if it isn't already broken) of the old cauk and the shower. Move the knife 90 degrees and run the blade against the other surface. Now to repeat the means the blade is parrell with the surface you are "cutting" out the corner that the caul makes. DO NOT PRESS DEEPLY.

Now most of the caulk should peel away. you will be left with a "skin coat" against your shower. Take a sharp chisle and with the FLAT side of the chisle down scrape the skin coat of caulk off. You can try to use denatured alchahol and possibly (but not recomended) mineral spirts to clean the rest of the residue off.

To recaulk you must have a caulk gun, or a tube designed to be squeezed. I always use a caulk gun, they range in price from $1.25 to $7.00 unless you buy a power modle that I do not recomend.

You put a THIN lin of caulk in the corner. The with a WET (with water for water clean up) finger or paper towel and smooth the line out pressing it tight against both surfaces. Clean up imeadatly. You may have to wipe the line several times to get a perfect line. So you have to be the judge of what is perfect or accaptable.

Do not wet the finger or rag when cleaning up non water clean up caulk.

Cut out any old sealant then apply with new sanitary silicon sealant from plumbers probably around 拢3.50 you will need flat head screwdriver and a Stanley knife and silicon gun.