Tips on Caulking

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I know this has nothing to do with knives but i get the impression that the folks on this forum are also good at fixing things (Lefty-Tom, DaveB, Keith...)

I wanted to share an AMAZING trick I discovered this weekend. If you put TSP in water your finger will not stick to the caulk.

So I rebuilt the rails on my porch. I wanted to do this project once and do it right. So after I rebuilt the colums and railing, I had a lot of seams to caulk. I discovred that if you put TSP (trisodium phosphate) in the water and wet your finger while smoothing out the caulk it will NOT stick to your finger.

I discovered this accidently and initially thought that it was due to the pricy caulking I was using (called Groove sold in Home Depot, $9 a tube). I had some water containing TSP I was using for cleaning. When that water dried up, I refilled the container with regular water. As soon as I touched the caulk, my finger stuck like I was touching glue.

I thought, hum, so I put some more TSP into that water and sure enough, when I touched the caulk, none if it stuck to my finger, until the finger dried and had to be re-dunked.

I wish someone told this trick to me when I ran a College Pro painting company back in college. Its jaw dropping. Kinda like Sous Vide ;0)
 
Interesting! I'm remodeling a kitchen and bathroom and this will certainly come in handy (or is it fingery?).
Thanks!.
 
Awesome! I'll be trying this out tomorrow...yes, I have some caulking left to do...how many bathrooms does a home REALLY need?
 
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