10 Ways to Mess Up a Bathroom Caulk Job

Our bathroom has a line of grout along the joint where there should be caulk instead. Grout, usually used to fill gaps between tiles, doesn't expand and will definitely crack when the bathtub or the tiled surface expands and contracts. Nobody should ever apply grout where the tiled surface meets the bathtub, but apparently this is a pretty common mistake. Just look at this cracking horror.

Because cracks can lead to water seeping into the drywall and rotting the building material, we decided to remove the grout and apply caulk instead. We set out thinking this would be an easy job that would take 10 minutes, max. We ended up taking a few days and messing up our caulk lines.

To help anyone looking to get artistically uneven caulk lines, we put together a short how-to.

1. Watch some caulking videos on Youtube and go, "Huh, that looks so easy, I'll nail it in no time."

2. Be a cheapskate and just buy the caulk in a squeeze tube because the pros in the videos use so little of the stuff.

3. Apply a fat bead of caulk along the joints because the tube opening is too big to easily control.

4. Scrap off all the caulk you just applied because it's beyond ugly and reapply until you use up all the caulk in the tube.

5. Remove all the caulk you applied and tell yourself you'd do it right next time.

6. Buy the correct products: caulk, caulk gun and tape.

7. Paste tape along the edges where the caulk will go.

8. Apply a squiggly, uneven line of caulk between the tape.

9. Use a coin that's too large for the job to remove the excess caulk. This helps you get bulging caulk edges because the flatter, narrower areas of the applied caulk is on the tapes.

10. Remove the tape and discover the beautifully messy caulk job.

Bonus points if you decide to live with the crazy caulk job because you haven't been showering for three days and you urgently need your regular showers back.

Double bonus points if you manage to get your hands to look like this.

Heaps of extra points if you got a fluffy white cat to condescendingly inspect your handiwork.

 PS: The videos on YouTube are actually really good; the fault lies entirely in us and our shaky hands. Some helpful videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XIf0deyzx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TZL2yipTzE