How to get exterior caulk cleaned?
Question:The house we recently moved into had vinyl siding installed 10 yrs +/- ago. The installers caulked around the windows and doors (white caulk) and now the caulk is looking really bad in many places. It has dark spots and large dark areas, like maybe it's dirty or maybe it's mold or maybe something else. I've tried bleach and pressure washing it and those helped but still looks bad. I didn't want to scrub it too hard because I didn't want to damage it. It would take a very long time to clean it all out and re-caulk, so I was hoping someone could tell me how I can get it clean.
Answers:
try C.L.R. or sno-bol toilet cleaner it works really good on stains
its for toilets and does have a type of acid in it so be careful
inconspicuous place first
Scrape part of it out and re-caulk.
If it's latex caulk, and it probably is, you can paint it. This is probably by far and away your best bet. Test paint a small piece with exterior latex paint, if the paint beads up, you have silicone caulk which won't hold paint. Most painters / siding installers don't use real high quality caulk, so I bet after 10 years you've got some cracking and shrinking. Fill these areas up with a good acrylic latex caulk before you paint. I have remodeled a lot of houses that had thousands and thousands of dollars in water damage because the caulking wasn't well maintained.
with sharp knife. or heated by heat gun much better use the knife, or a tools made for this job you can buy from paint shop or tools shop.
I would bet you could paint the caulking. If not you will probably need to replace it. This is not a very difficult job but I hate to replace caulking so I would hire it done.
I suggest you paint it, that's probably the best way to go.
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