[Music]
so if nobody's ever told you the secret
to caulking you probably hate it and
every time that you do it it's a giant
mess and a big epic struggle so let's
change that today today i'm going to
share my number one caulking secret when
it comes to caulking trims then we're
going to go over the two slightly less
important secrets that are going to put
the whole package together and
completely transform your caulking game
so the first tip that i have and the
biggest one is really the holy grail of
caulking tips what you want to do is get
yourself a really nice small tip on the
end of your tube of caulking cut it on a
bit of an angle the same angle that
you're going to be holding the tube when
you're applying the caulk
cut it nice and small if it's too small
and it's squeezing out the back cut it
slightly bigger it's not rocket science
here
different caulkings have different
viscosity so it's a little bit of trial
and error but get it as small as
possible on a bit of an angle
and then the next thing that i like to
do with the tip preparation is get a
little bit of a groove on there just so
that it's going to ride nicer and it's
going to just kind of it's going to want
to hold the tip where it needs to be
i don't know if you've ever found that
after cutting your tip and then caulking
half of a tube three quarters of a tube
all of a sudden it's like ah this thing
is just gliding along perfectly and it's
working great
so i like to put that little groove
right at the start i'll take two uh
sanding blocks or a piece of sandpaper
make a 90 degree hold the tube the way
that you're going to orientate it when
you're applying the caulking and just
swipe it back like three or four times
and you're gonna get that little groove
worn in there before you start it'll
make it a lot easier and then the final
thing is i like an orientation line
right on the very top
kind of in line with the longest point
of the tip
as you have the tube and you're
navigating it around up and down and
sideways that's just going to help you
keep this thing orientated in the exact
right position so put some felt pen a
nice orientation line will make a world
of difference let's move on to the
second tip get yourself a dripless
caulking gun now the difference between
dripless and just your regular levered
caulking gun is just worlds apart
with the levered gun unless you're like
a real professional that's been using
the levered gun for a long time
by the time you take your hand off the
trigger and push the back of the gun
you're gonna get a little bit of ooze
out the end of your tube
and the next time you go to put that
tube into the corner to start caulking
again it's just going to make a mess you
definitely always want to have a wet rag
with you on hand when you're caulking
just keep that tip clean that way when
you put it into the uh
the crack it's not gonna it's not gonna
make a mess but with this lever gun
sometimes you might forget it and then
you go to pick it up and it's just a big
pile of ooze all over the ground with
the dripless gun the beauty is
once you release the lever boom it stops
coming out the tip you can keep a really
nice clean tip it makes the whole job
quite a bit easier you can see the
mechanism in action when it's released
watch the back of the little rod there
it goes back
that takes off all the pressure and yeah
these guns are amazing so these yellow
dripless guns are ones that i've used
for a long time i'm gonna put links to
these dripless guns in the description
there's also a newborn gun that is a
little bit cheaper this one here is like
15 bucks
the newborn version of this gun is 12
bucks it's a little nicer actually it
has some padding on the handle so let's
move on to the last tip we're getting
practical we're going to put everything
together the dripless gun the perfect
tip i'm going to show you the angle that
you need to hold the gun at and the
perfect flow rate for excellent results
when it comes to the angle you want to
replicate the angle that you cut onto
the tip originally
so
just get a bit of a visual on that
in this case here i cut about like that
if you've cut a little more angle you're
going to be a little lower a little less
a little straighter up and down
you want to try to avoid getting too low
on the angle what happens there is the
caulking just does not really adhere
properly and it's just going to be kind
of laying on there and then when you go
and swipe it with your finger it's going
to make a bit of a mess
if you do end up getting a little
steeper it can just kind of spread it
out the sides a little more it's not the
worst thing in the world so if you're
going to air air on being a little bit
steeper but just get a feel for that
angle and once you get a sense of the
angle use your orientation line and
always keep it pointed the opposite
direction that you're traveling and then
when you're going around corners and
stuff you can always just spin the tube
you're going along baseboard like this
you're coming down some casing you can
spin it up like that
yeah the orientation line comes in handy
and then just get a feel for maintaining
that same angle as you travel along
it takes a little practice but it just
it just gives you that consistent
caulking that you're not going to have
to spend a lot of time
sometimes when you get raid in the zone
you don't even need to tool the caulking
but most times i'll just take my wet rag
put my pinky in there and then just give
it a quick swipe just to smooth
everything out and then when it comes to
the proper flow rate and application
speed
there's really no way that i can tell
you exactly how to do that what i will
say is when i'm just starting off i
haven't caulked for a while i'm just
getting back into it i keep it pretty
light on the squeeze pressure and the
speed a little bit slower just to get a
bit of a feel for it as you get a little
more comfortable you can grip it a
little firmer and just get going a
little faster
but the one thing that i will say here
and set in stone it's always better to
do two or three swipes to kind of build
up the the bead rather than one heavy
fat layer that you're gonna have to try
to wipe off and clean up two or three
swipes takes like three seconds
putting down a fat bead and cleaning it
off can be two or three minutes and it's
once you get caulking smeared all over
the place it just makes a disaster of
everything so keep the pressure light at
first the speed relatively slow so that
you're just getting a feel for it
build up some confidence and then get
rolling and hey now that you are a
caulking master why not learn how to
hang doors i've got a great video for
that right over here
so let's move on to the last tip we're
going to put everything together
[Laughter]
boom goes the dynamite after this you
are going to be a peru
there's just hopefully i can cut
something together that was brutal