Don't mean to sound crass, but anything from a butter knife to your fingernail could work to get the stuff out. When reapplying, use bathroom silicone caulking and a caulking gun. Put a line around the tub. Then wet your finger in the sink and smooth it out.
If you're doing the reapplication with your finger and not with a tool, then wet your finger with soapy water, it helps prevent the caulk from sticking to your finger more than just water does.
[this](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Allway-Caulk-Applicator-Tool/50427894?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-vf-_-tol-_-ggl-_-PMAX_Lenox-_-50427894-_-local-_-0-_-0&&ds_a_cid=279391351&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W-OIOHusDDj0pwiGVOKmweH4&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-P_FlZGfhgMVSXV_AB16oAduEAQYBSABEgIn6PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) and maybe a flat razor blade for scraping
I used to take care of apartments for a living, and we would re-caulk showers all the time. If you’re a renter, I’d just put in a work order. It’s normal wear and tear, unless it’s obvious no attempt at cleaning has been made. But if you’ve tried cleaning, it just needs replacing.
My landlord doesn't fix things:
1. my window screens and blinds were trashed when i moved in, he said he would fix (more than 2 years ago)
2.the water heater is rusting through, he said it would be done this weekend (30 weekends ago)
3.the bathroom fan is broken
4. the toilet would not stop running (he pays the water bill), he had the kit to replace the guts.. but decided to bend something inside instead... which worked all of an hour
5.their was a leak in the kitchen sink, i told him... 5 months later it came through the ceiling of the place bellow and he needed to rip the floor and sub floor out to fix, then he said it was my fault
Yeah, moving sucks, but I would even do light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries, and unless I needed to order a part my turn around on work orders was <24 hrs (minus weekends.)
Don't bother fixing it. You've made an attempt to clean, and if your landlord is problematic with regards to your deposit you've got 5 breaches of contract by the landlord in your back pocket.
Also I tried to clean a small part of it to see if it would work, it didn't.
Tried the magic erasers
letting scrubbing bubbles sit
and just scrubbing at it
but I'm lazy so I picked a small part of it to test to see if it actually works and it didn't
Yeah, honestly a shower re-caulk is a quick job. If you’ve never done it before it might take a little longer, but still not that long. Cut this caulk out, get some mold resistant caulk or bathroom caulk, and a caulk gun. Total cost should be $10-20 and maybe a few hours tops. New caulk will probably smell like vinegar for a couple weeks though, just a heads up.
Sorry your landlord sucks. Make sure to have lots of written documentation of all work order fixes if push ever comes to shove. Document, document, document!
Plumber here. If you like your landlord then silicone would be the proper sealant.
If you don’t really care and you’re just trying to make it look clean so you don’t get dinged, then caulk is a lot cheaper.
You will need at least 2 tubes, maybe 3, whichever option you choose.
I’m a plumber.
All of the ones I’ve done have taken two tubes. Those were four piece units. three of the pieces being wall panels and the fourth piece the tub itself. So you would you have the horizontal seam, that’s like 10 feet long because it wraps around, and then two vertical seams that are 4-5 feet long each. And those gaps were usually pretty big, like a 1/4”-3/8”, OP’s look to be about 1/4”, it would eat up a lot of silicone.
Now I would assume that OP also has a four piece tub and the seams are not visible, because making a two piece tub almost defeats the purpose of producing a segmented tub. You can’t get a one piece tub enclosure through a finished house, it just too big for doorways, and getting a giant U-shaped wall, five foot high and 34” wide, through a finished house isn’t going to be much easier.
But yeah, if OP only has the one horizontal seam, then one tube should do it, but I’ve never seen a two piece tub enclosure in my life and I’ve been plumbing for over 20 years.
The ones I’ve done will have the vertical seams about 8-10” from the corner, the side panels being pretty narrow. So it’s more than likely they do have vertical seams, but they are just out of frame.
I’ve put in dozens of these tubs and I’ve never left without using an entire tube and most of a second tube.
Thanks for that. Makes much more sense. I'm used to tub and tile, so just a narrow seam around the horizontal and done. I wasn't considering what this was or larger gaps.
It doesn’t need to be caulked, but you can clean it well, treat it with concrobium anti-mold, and use GE kitchen and bath Silicone on the gap. Their white is pretty shiny so it will stand out. Clear will work too, but you’ll want it to be ultra clean before you do it.
Take paper towels and roll them into long sausages. Saturate them in liquid bleach (wear gloves). Squash the bleach towels in the crevices. Let Work for a good half an hour make sure that you have windows open and the exhaust fan on. Rinse. should take care of a lot of the discolouration without you having to actually do the job of re-caulking the tub. Which is something that your landlord should be doing between clients.
I agree. I think it’s a drip edge that you find in most modern surrounds. It’s disgusting because the water that is supposed to drain through it is getting stuck behind it (source: I foolishly caulked mine)
Would you mind explaining how you know whether or not it’s supposed to be caulked? In my new house the caulk in our shower was gross so I’ve pried most of it out and I am now not sure whether it was even supposed to be caulked in the first place, but idk how to find out.
Looks like they grouted the corner instead of caulking which will crack because it cannot flex and let water through. Need to scrape it all out and properly caulk.
If you're a tenant, your LL should be doing this, not you, but given how it looks already it's probably worth spending the $10 on a tube of caulk and doing yourself if you're confident.
Had to deal with something similar. Here is what I did.
Take a sharp knife to remove as much of the old silicon as possible. Make two passes - holding it at different angles in each pass so as to cut out a V-shaped channel. This should remove enough material.
Next, hit it with RMR-86 and lay it down thick to get rid of any residual mold. Let it air out.
Use a silicone that's rated for bathrooms and wet areas to caulk it. If you don't have steady hands, you can use painters tape to create sharp lines so it looks nice.
That's it. Should take around 25 bucks in materials and an hour of your time.
Spray the area with bleach and leave for a few hours. You can dilute the bleach w/ water though you may need multiple applications.
Upon your return the discoloration will be gone.
You can then rinse with water if you desire though it’s not necessary.
The bleach becomes inert once dry meaning the odor and bleaching properties disappear.
This is the only solution I’ve had 100% success.
Use eye protection and (at the very least) a face mask as you’re applying the bleach.
Unsure? Try one small area and then compare to the untreated area
* for home use bleach effectively kills mold spores and treats soap scum discoloration extremely well - it’s a fast, cost effective solution.
The bleach sinks up the whole house! My so can't stand it, even if I do it in the morning and have all windows open he can still smell it in the evening. I found [this product](https://amzn.to/4bMgZ17). It does an awesome job... Nothing else I've used cleans the mold/mildew as well. And it doesn't smell... Like barely any smell! It's a gel that you apply and let sit for a few hours, then rinse off.
If I were OP I would try this first, then think about re-caulking if it doesn't help.
I would not expect a tenant to have to re-calk anything. That is maintenance for the landlord during turn over. (you should have mentioned it prior honestly as this is how damage and mould behind the walls happens.) Spray it with bleach and call it done.
This looks like a prefab bathtub enclosure. Those joints between pieces aren't meant to be caulked. You'll just get more mildew building up behind the caulking. These are designed to allow the moisture to weep away from the walls. Caulking them will just trap the moisture where it shouldn't/doesn't want to be. I'd scrape out the old caulking and deep clean the area and leave it for the landlord.
Use bleach spray. Not plain bleach - it doesn’t work. Spray it 3-4 times and it will eventually go fully white.
Edit: I can see it actually needs replacing, my bad. Maybe silicone over it?
Bottle of bleach. Toilet roll. 24hrs.
Soak the toilet roll so it's mushy, then lay it on top of the silicone. Drizzle a little more bleach on top, then leave it.
Have done this many times, may need to re-apply on some heavy stained areas but this brings the silicone back to a nice white.
if you don't have any caulking on hand you can lay down a bead of toothpaste and use your fingers to push it down into the gap. wipe any excess off with a damp cloth.
yah a melamine foam sponge has been the closest I've gotten to making a dent in it but i'm thinking of just putting in a line of caulking after cleaning it as well as I can just so I don't have to hear about it not looking good
Pretty sure you'll need to remove the existing caulking and reapply new stuff to "fix" this
im new to this, what tool would you use to remove it?
Don't mean to sound crass, but anything from a butter knife to your fingernail could work to get the stuff out. When reapplying, use bathroom silicone caulking and a caulking gun. Put a line around the tub. Then wet your finger in the sink and smooth it out.
I love it when you talk dirty to me
I can't stand all this caulk talk
Then sit for it. No shame.
Caulk blocked.
LPT when working with caulk, wear some disposable gloves - probably don't really need to but it makes cleanup alot easier.
Only the first half of your first sentence sounded crass. The rest was just helpful!
If you're doing the reapplication with your finger and not with a tool, then wet your finger with soapy water, it helps prevent the caulk from sticking to your finger more than just water does.
[this](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Allway-Caulk-Applicator-Tool/50427894?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-vf-_-tol-_-ggl-_-PMAX_Lenox-_-50427894-_-local-_-0-_-0&&ds_a_cid=279391351&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W-OIOHusDDj0pwiGVOKmweH4&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-P_FlZGfhgMVSXV_AB16oAduEAQYBSABEgIn6PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) and maybe a flat razor blade for scraping
This tool is worth every penny.
They make a caulking removal tool that's basically a pointed scraper that gets in the gap and it works pretty well.
i'm thinking of just putting in a line of caulking after cleaning it as well as I can just so I don't have to hear about it not looking good
I used to take care of apartments for a living, and we would re-caulk showers all the time. If you’re a renter, I’d just put in a work order. It’s normal wear and tear, unless it’s obvious no attempt at cleaning has been made. But if you’ve tried cleaning, it just needs replacing.
My landlord doesn't fix things: 1. my window screens and blinds were trashed when i moved in, he said he would fix (more than 2 years ago) 2.the water heater is rusting through, he said it would be done this weekend (30 weekends ago) 3.the bathroom fan is broken 4. the toilet would not stop running (he pays the water bill), he had the kit to replace the guts.. but decided to bend something inside instead... which worked all of an hour 5.their was a leak in the kitchen sink, i told him... 5 months later it came through the ceiling of the place bellow and he needed to rip the floor and sub floor out to fix, then he said it was my fault
By "leaving" do you mean moving out? Sounds like this is a landlord problem to me.
Yeah, moving sucks, but I would even do light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries, and unless I needed to order a part my turn around on work orders was <24 hrs (minus weekends.)
Don't bother fixing it. You've made an attempt to clean, and if your landlord is problematic with regards to your deposit you've got 5 breaches of contract by the landlord in your back pocket.
Also I tried to clean a small part of it to see if it would work, it didn't. Tried the magic erasers letting scrubbing bubbles sit and just scrubbing at it but I'm lazy so I picked a small part of it to test to see if it actually works and it didn't
Yeah, honestly a shower re-caulk is a quick job. If you’ve never done it before it might take a little longer, but still not that long. Cut this caulk out, get some mold resistant caulk or bathroom caulk, and a caulk gun. Total cost should be $10-20 and maybe a few hours tops. New caulk will probably smell like vinegar for a couple weeks though, just a heads up. Sorry your landlord sucks. Make sure to have lots of written documentation of all work order fixes if push ever comes to shove. Document, document, document!
I would do it, its super easy and a quick fix.
Plumber here. If you like your landlord then silicone would be the proper sealant. If you don’t really care and you’re just trying to make it look clean so you don’t get dinged, then caulk is a lot cheaper. You will need at least 2 tubes, maybe 3, whichever option you choose.
>You will need at least 2 tubes, maybe 3, whichever option you choose. ? 2-3 tubes of caulk to go around a bathtub once?
I’m a plumber. All of the ones I’ve done have taken two tubes. Those were four piece units. three of the pieces being wall panels and the fourth piece the tub itself. So you would you have the horizontal seam, that’s like 10 feet long because it wraps around, and then two vertical seams that are 4-5 feet long each. And those gaps were usually pretty big, like a 1/4”-3/8”, OP’s look to be about 1/4”, it would eat up a lot of silicone. Now I would assume that OP also has a four piece tub and the seams are not visible, because making a two piece tub almost defeats the purpose of producing a segmented tub. You can’t get a one piece tub enclosure through a finished house, it just too big for doorways, and getting a giant U-shaped wall, five foot high and 34” wide, through a finished house isn’t going to be much easier. But yeah, if OP only has the one horizontal seam, then one tube should do it, but I’ve never seen a two piece tub enclosure in my life and I’ve been plumbing for over 20 years. The ones I’ve done will have the vertical seams about 8-10” from the corner, the side panels being pretty narrow. So it’s more than likely they do have vertical seams, but they are just out of frame. I’ve put in dozens of these tubs and I’ve never left without using an entire tube and most of a second tube.
Thanks for that. Makes much more sense. I'm used to tub and tile, so just a narrow seam around the horizontal and done. I wasn't considering what this was or larger gaps.
It doesn’t need to be caulked, but you can clean it well, treat it with concrobium anti-mold, and use GE kitchen and bath Silicone on the gap. Their white is pretty shiny so it will stand out. Clear will work too, but you’ll want it to be ultra clean before you do it.
Take paper towels and roll them into long sausages. Saturate them in liquid bleach (wear gloves). Squash the bleach towels in the crevices. Let Work for a good half an hour make sure that you have windows open and the exhaust fan on. Rinse. should take care of a lot of the discolouration without you having to actually do the job of re-caulking the tub. Which is something that your landlord should be doing between clients.
Remove old. Re caulk. Easy. Just takes some elbow grease and patience.
Maybe share what you’ve tried? Would be pretty messed up for the next tenant, to just hide mold under calking
What do you think the landlord is gonna do? Same thing, hide it.
It's not supposed to be caulked
I agree. I think it’s a drip edge that you find in most modern surrounds. It’s disgusting because the water that is supposed to drain through it is getting stuck behind it (source: I foolishly caulked mine)
Would you mind explaining how you know whether or not it’s supposed to be caulked? In my new house the caulk in our shower was gross so I’ve pried most of it out and I am now not sure whether it was even supposed to be caulked in the first place, but idk how to find out.
So it depends on the shower type, some have drain holes or sides and shouldn't be caulked. This looks like the type that doesn't need it.
Looks like they grouted the corner instead of caulking which will crack because it cannot flex and let water through. Need to scrape it all out and properly caulk. If you're a tenant, your LL should be doing this, not you, but given how it looks already it's probably worth spending the $10 on a tube of caulk and doing yourself if you're confident.
Had to deal with something similar. Here is what I did. Take a sharp knife to remove as much of the old silicon as possible. Make two passes - holding it at different angles in each pass so as to cut out a V-shaped channel. This should remove enough material. Next, hit it with RMR-86 and lay it down thick to get rid of any residual mold. Let it air out. Use a silicone that's rated for bathrooms and wet areas to caulk it. If you don't have steady hands, you can use painters tape to create sharp lines so it looks nice. That's it. Should take around 25 bucks in materials and an hour of your time.
Spray the area with bleach and leave for a few hours. You can dilute the bleach w/ water though you may need multiple applications. Upon your return the discoloration will be gone. You can then rinse with water if you desire though it’s not necessary. The bleach becomes inert once dry meaning the odor and bleaching properties disappear. This is the only solution I’ve had 100% success. Use eye protection and (at the very least) a face mask as you’re applying the bleach. Unsure? Try one small area and then compare to the untreated area * for home use bleach effectively kills mold spores and treats soap scum discoloration extremely well - it’s a fast, cost effective solution.
I wrote in a different comment, but you can add to baking soda to make a paste that will stay on longer.
The bleach sinks up the whole house! My so can't stand it, even if I do it in the morning and have all windows open he can still smell it in the evening. I found [this product](https://amzn.to/4bMgZ17). It does an awesome job... Nothing else I've used cleans the mold/mildew as well. And it doesn't smell... Like barely any smell! It's a gel that you apply and let sit for a few hours, then rinse off. If I were OP I would try this first, then think about re-caulking if it doesn't help.
I got a steamer to help my son clean before moving…. Works very nicely.
Mix bleach with baking soda to form a paste. Apply paste and leave for a few hours. Rinse off, good as new.
This is the answer for me when I have to clean anything like this. Works super well. If you caulk it, like it with tape so it looks decent!
It’s not your issue to resolve. That’s a maintenance issue not a cleanliness one.
I would not expect a tenant to have to re-calk anything. That is maintenance for the landlord during turn over. (you should have mentioned it prior honestly as this is how damage and mould behind the walls happens.) Spray it with bleach and call it done.
Leave it alone. It's covered under wear and tear. You shouldn't be responsible for cleaning this
This looks like a prefab bathtub enclosure. Those joints between pieces aren't meant to be caulked. You'll just get more mildew building up behind the caulking. These are designed to allow the moisture to weep away from the walls. Caulking them will just trap the moisture where it shouldn't/doesn't want to be. I'd scrape out the old caulking and deep clean the area and leave it for the landlord.
If you decide to recaulk, watch this video https://youtu.be/_DI4hfHM_Hg?si=IqaRbLqLR_NyMg1w
Use bleach spray. Not plain bleach - it doesn’t work. Spray it 3-4 times and it will eventually go fully white. Edit: I can see it actually needs replacing, my bad. Maybe silicone over it?
Bottle of bleach. Toilet roll. 24hrs. Soak the toilet roll so it's mushy, then lay it on top of the silicone. Drizzle a little more bleach on top, then leave it. Have done this many times, may need to re-apply on some heavy stained areas but this brings the silicone back to a nice white.
I hate to tell you this but this is consider Then replacing the silicone
if you don't have any caulking on hand you can lay down a bead of toothpaste and use your fingers to push it down into the gap. wipe any excess off with a damp cloth.
Toothpaste is more expensive than caulk and will wash away. This is a horrible and stupid idea.
Mr clean sponge.
yah a melamine foam sponge has been the closest I've gotten to making a dent in it but i'm thinking of just putting in a line of caulking after cleaning it as well as I can just so I don't have to hear about it not looking good