Breaking the Seal

Our master bathroom was poorly constructed by the PO (previous owners). That will be our next mission, but for now we are enjoying not having any major projects (or major expenses that go along with it).

There are too many things wrong with that bathroom to list, but for starters the tub and shower doors were poorly installed and therefore has caused water damage. That fact alone worries me, but what worries me even more is not stopping it before it can be repaired, and I don't want to be contributing to the cause.

So I removed the old caulking along the tub, which was very much not serving its purpose (and collecting nasty black mold). It wasn't applied correctly, or evenly, or even in the areas that badly needed it. I've learned the hard way that caulking removal is NOT fun. I've come to the precise conclusion that removing any kind of adhesive is not easy.

Here it is after my hard scraping labor:

Here's the best way I've found to remove old caulking:

1. Caulking softener - Screw being green. Sometimes chemicals can be your friends.
2. Caulking remover - Because they make tools for everything. For good reason.
3. Elbow grease - lots of it.
   

After laboring through the removal process, I learned that I don't want to repeat it. Ever. So until we tackle repairing the entire bathroom, I put down a temporary (ie. easier) solution: tub and wall sealer trim:

I'm off to shower with water fully contained to the tub...