Transcription
In today's video, we returned to the scene of my original silicon video four years ago, and I'm going to be showing you how to remove existing silicon and how to silicon in tricky spaces behind taps. And later on in the video, I'll be giving you an exclusive preview of a brand new mod.
[Applause]
I'm revisiting this job today because when I siliconed this vanity unit, I hadn't discovered the brilliant Kramer kit. A link to my most recent video, which is coming up on the screen now, instead, I used this much more basic tool from Everbuild. And you can see here, the concave profile of this tool doesn't give you anything like the strength you need on your bead of silicon, with the net result that even though this was a reasonably decent sanitary silicon, grime, dirt, and mold has got behind the silicon, leaving an unsightly mess across a vanity unit I made several years ago from an old Victorian sideboard. In a bit of a first, today's video is being sponsored by Corfix. I haven't done any sponsorships before, but I thought I'd make an exception today because Corfix is a little bit different. Since I discovered this product two years ago, it's revolutionized the way I hang heavy things on dot and dab walls in my day job because the steel core bridges the gap between the plasterboard and the wall behind to give you a really secure fixing. Only last week, I used 18 of these to hang an extremely heavy bed tester on a dot and dab wall. If you're interested to find out more, check out the links in the description below the video.
Right, back to the siliconing. We've only got one bathroom in this house, and this vanity unit takes a bit of a battering. So the first job is to clean it up. And to do that, I use this protective detergents for tops. Don't forget, everything I've referred to today will be in the description below the video, as usual. Well, I want to make this as challenging as possible today. This mirror is going to have to come off because I can either get my silicon gun in, which wouldn't be a problem in itself, or more importantly, any of the tools that I want to showcase in today's video. Now, clearly, removing silicon from polished marble surfaces like this is going to be a lot easier than it is if you're trying to take it off tiles with lots of transverse grout lines. But let's run through some of the techniques I've used in the past so that you can decide which one is most appropriate for your situation.
First up, we've got the humble Stanley knife blade, which I've used a lot in the past because you can get it so flat to the surface you're scraping at, with the net result that the chances of scratching that surface are minimized. It's not ideal, though, with your hand so close to the blade, even if you put a bit of protection on the top, as I've often done in the past, just to protect your fingers whilst you're using the blade. So if you're going to do this, you're better off fitting the blade into a scraper tool like this for safety's sake, and then running it along to remove your silicone like so.
Another option, if you bought one of these Kramer Fuji Kit Sevens, is to use this tool that comes with the kit. And with a Kramer Kit 7, only 10 pence more expensive than the Kit 5, which doesn't have the tool, you'd be crazy not to buy it. And this is a clever bit of kit because whilst your typical Stanley knife blade has too much bulk, which just doesn't quite allow you to get close enough to the edge without scratching your marble or tile, whatever you're using, you can see I've just scratched it a little bit there. This tool is great because you can get close enough to the edge to scrape away your silicone.
But another option, which I'm particularly interested to try out today, is this tool that I bought this week from Draper. It's got two ends. This plastic sort of scraper end, which I suppose is useful on things like acrylic shower trays where you don't want to scratch the acrylic. But it's also got this angled metal tool, which should, at least in theory, be pretty effective. My initial reaction is, I'm quite worried about it scratching the surface because it is making that, you can hear it, slightly disconcerting gravelly noise against the marble. It's undeniably doing the job, but I'm having to be really careful not to scratch the surface. I'm afraid I won't be using this again. It just feels like you're going to scratch the surface at any given moment. And my fears with scraping it across marble are going to be amplified if you've got an acrylic bath or shower tray. So if you have an acrylic surface to remove silicon from, it makes sense to be very careful and gentle with something like this, or perhaps buy a plastic scraper. And there are a few options available online, but just bear in mind the reviews seem to suggest that the scrapers get worn down very quickly.
So what I suggest, whatever surface you're removing silicon from, it makes sense to combine using one of these tools with a silicon removing agent. There are loads available on the market, but the one I'm going to show you today is this Multi-Solve from CT1. As the name suggests, it's a multi-purpose solvent, not just for silicon. And I've used it to really good effect to remove sticky adhesive residue in previous videos. What I really love about this spray is it evaporates without leaving an oily residue, unlike WD-40, which you should never use in conjunction with a siliconing job because you'll never get rid of the oily residue, with the end result that you're going to get a shriveled mess when you reapply your silicone. And the idea is you leave the spray on the surface for a few minutes to work its magic before wiping away the silicon.
Wow, look at this. It's just taken out that whole section like it just wasn't stuck to anything. And I don't know whether you can see this, but the silicon is actually shriveling up in the corners. So there's no doubt that this spray is making it a lot easier to remove this silicone. I really like using this Kramer tool. I know you probably all think I go on far too much about Fuji Kits and Kramer, but you can't deny when a tool is doing a fantastic job. And this blade is safe to use, it's maneuverable, I can get behind this tap, which isn't the easiest space to work in. Look at that. Suddenly the silicone has lost all of its adhesion to the surface, and it's just pulling straight up. A little bit of a razor blade in the corner.
So with that phase in the process complete, I'm just going to wipe down our work area to remove this disgusting residue. My wife would be like, "I can't believe you showed up and all that dirt." But the trouble was, you couldn't get to it because it's behind the silicon. And I'll tell you what, that will not happen again with the reapplication we're going to do in a minute. And what we are left with here is a beautiful clean surface. I'm also just going to give this rake tool a little bit of a go as well, because there's some confusion as to what this is used for. A lot of people say it's a raking out grout, but I also find it particularly useful for getting rid of silicon residue from a joint, as you can see here. I just urge a bit of caution when using this, particularly on polished surfaces like this, to make sure you don't scratch the surface. A little bit of a wipe with a tissue, and then I'm going to give it one more blast with a Multi-Solve just to make absolutely sure that there is no residue left behind that could impact on the adhesion of our new bead of silicon.
Now onto the siliconing. I previously on this vanity unit used the transparent version of this Unibond sealant. But what I'm going to do today, because I want a solid colour and after some really good experience using it before, I'm going with this Maposil mold resistant silicon. I started with this Moon White, which ended up looking too white, as you'll see in a minute, and so I popped down Screwfix and picked up the Silver Grey version. And this is what's so good about this stuff. It comes in so many different colours, so you can match it to pretty much any surface you're wanting to seal.
I'm not going to use the Kramer kit today. You're probably all a bit bored of seeing me using it, but fundamentally, I can't get it behind the taps. So I went online last week and I bought this Fugan kit. A lot of people saying to me, "How do I silicon behind taps in really restrictive, tricky places?" I often talk about this, but I've never used it, so I'm quite excited to give it a go today. You get these five different forming tools, each on sort of lollipop type sticks. And what I'm hoping is this, this little chap is going to go a long way to solving the problems you all have with getting your silicon formed in tricky spaces. There are a number of different profile shapes to choose from. What's particularly interesting, a lot of people ask me what to do with beveled tiles, bevel edge tiles, and I think this tool might provide the answer. Yes, it's got a concave edge, but you could always cut that off to create a diagonal. And because of this sloped surface here, this might be the best way to get a forming tool to produce a perfect silicone bead on a beveled edge.
I'm going to be using this 6.5 millimeter profile. The golden rule of siliconing is obviously to select the smallest profile you can because that minimizes the amount of waste. Because by definition, the way this tool works is it scrapes along the bead of silicon, pulling away the excess silicon. You want to go with the smallest profile you can, but ensuring that you've got about at least two millimeters overlapping the edge of the tile on each side. If they had a smaller profile, I'd use it, but this six and a half is the smallest in the kit. You see it goes from six and a half to eight and a half, ten, and twelve and a half. If I have one criticism of this kit, it says in the instructions to wet the sealant and the tool with smoothing agent before you start using it. No, no, no, no. This is the golden rule of siliconing. Throw that smoothing agent out the window. You don't want it anywhere near your bead because if any gets behind the bead of silicon, and by smoothing agent, they're talking here about a washing-up liquid and water mix, the joint is ruined. And you'll find in my original video, linked, which is coming up on the screen now, where I talk all about that.
So the next thing we need to do is prep our silicon nozzle. Firstly, by cutting the end off the tube. And next, and this is the point where there's a bit of trial and error, cutting straight across the nozzle. We're not going to drag at an angle. Again, you can look at my previous videos to understand why, but suffice to say, you force more silicon into the gap if you start with a square rather than diagonal nozzle. And what we're trying to achieve here is a nozzle that's cut very slightly wider than the profile that we're using, so as to minimize the amount of waste as we drag the tool across the joint. You can trial and error this experiment on a short section of the joint, as I did here, initially with the Moon White Maposil silicon. And if the tool doesn't completely form the joint, as is happening here, you know you've got to cut the nozzle a bit wider. Because you can always then just remove that section with a right-angle tool, like I've done there.
And the other little trick I've got for you today is, if you've got hard to reach areas, these rotating nozzles from Kramer are going to be an absolute godsend to you. As you can see here, where proximity to the wall was preventing me getting the nozzle into the corner. And also on this recent project in my son's room, where I was corking in a little new addition to his IKEA floating shelf. And these are currently available on Amazon as a reduced price package here in the UK with the profiling kit 7.
So let's see how I got on with this Fugan tool.
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So I've got to say, I'm pretty pleased with the finished result. Is it perfect? No. Particularly around the corners, which were tricky to complete because of the way the marble drops away around the edge. And trying to find my way around two cameras didn't help. But it's a vast improvement on what was there before. And with a six and a half millimeter diagonal bead, it will be impregnable to mold and grime for years to come. Whilst I made it look pretty straightforward in that clip, I've got to be honest with you, it wasn't. I used up over a quarter of a tube of silicon just on that short run, as I grappled to find out the best technique for using this new tool, not to mention half a bin of tissue paper from cleaning the tool down between each run. But one thing I would say to you, as you see here in this clip, where I removed the tool bead at least four times, is that if you're quick, you can retool the bead a few times before the silicon starts to skin over. And that allows you to practice and perfect your bead of silicon. Though I'd say you don't want to be retooling much after five minutes after you've laid that initial bead, otherwise you'll find the silicon starts to skin over and lose that smooth consistency when you try and retool it.
I use tissues to clean the tools down during use, and then I find a combination of the Multi-Solve spray and wet wipes after use get those tools looking as good as new again. And the final job was to apply this marble care cream to the surface. There might be better products around, let me know if you think so, but I was just keen to restore some of the shine, particularly around the taps where we've used quite abrasive cleaning products over the years.
Now, for those of you thinking, "That's all very well, getting a lovely clean line on flat polished marble like this, but what about uneven tiles with transverse grout lines, like I did in my original silicone video, where the sled on the Kramer tool really comes into its own?" You'd have a very good point. And I'm not going to disappoint you, because I've come up with a solution. I've modified the Fugan Fooks by removing a small section using the razor blade that came in the Kramer Kit 7, and also my normal Stanley knife, to enable this little black sled to slide onto the side of the Fugan, like it does with the original Kramer tool. This is a pretty easy mod. You've just got to remember to keep your hands behind the blade. And now, in my view, you've got the best of both worlds for those hard to reach areas behind taps.
And finally, what I tend to do on a job like this when I want to reuse the silicon afterwards is take the silicon off an old tube like this. This is actually the original one I featured in this video, where the silicon has completely solidified in the nozzle. And put that over the fresh tube. It's not going to stop the silicon solidifying over time, but it's a better solution than if I just relied on this insulation tape on the existing nozzle. And then you can clean out the nozzle you're currently using with something like an old chopstick, like I'm doing here, which is a particularly good idea for these rotating nozzles, which it seems a shame to let go to waste.
Just to remind you, details of all the tools used in today's video will be in the description below the video, which of course you can access on your smartphone by clicking on the little arrow, and on your PC by clicking on the "Show more" button. If you've liked today's video, it'd be great if you could give it the thumbs up below. And if you're new to my channel, I'd love to have you subscribe. You can do that by clicking on the link here. And don't forget to click on the bell notification icon so you get notified every time I upload a new video. You'll also find there a link to my Amazon store, which basically has links to all the tools in my toolbox. See you soon.