The Lemon Fool

stewamax wrote:Two jobs (out of many) I have never properly mastered:
- applying a long uniform bead of silicone sealant in one sweep with no touch-up
- applying glazing putty such that the result is (and remains) flat. Yes, I've watched the Youtube videos!
Just born ham-fisted I suppose.

Aha...I was told about the tricks of the trade by the plumber on the rain.

First apply your bead, then spray with a detergent solution, then use a wet, shaped stick to produce the profile required.

John

Putty's just a matter of getting three things right.

Fresh putty, properly warmed and 'worked up'. And use a proper putty knife with a 135 degree angle. (You really can't do it with an old wallpaper scraper. )

Oh, and don't put too much putty on in the first place. Probably the single most common beginner's mistake.

BJ

JMN2 wrote:Great anecdote, John. Siliconing is one of the most satisfying DIY jobs, together with repointing brickwork. Unfortunately my 1971 yellow brick bungalow does not need repointing but luckily the sloping back garden has some retaining walls I can have fun with in the summer.

Are you far from Exeter?


Paul

richlist wrote:What surprises me is that nobody supplies a cap to screw on a part used tube that would seal it. From what I can make out they all have the same thread.

Well you can get this sort of thing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Closure- ... 33aefd60e4

assuming the size is correct. But the postage is a bit steep!

Stompa wrote:

richlist wrote:What surprises me is that nobody supplies a cap to screw on a part used tube that would seal it. From what I can make out they all have the same thread.

Well you can get this sort of thing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Closure- ... 33aefd60e4

assuming the size is correct. But the postage is a bit steep!

I suspect it is a pretty common/standard thread size. Possibly a squeezy sauce bottle mayonnaise lid would fit.

Paul

Not so.....I've tried all of them.

But if anyone knows what fits that would be good.

stewamax wrote:Two jobs (out of many) I have never properly mastered:
- applying a long uniform bead of silicone sealant in one sweep with no touch-up
- applying glazing putty such that the result is (and remains) flat. Yes, I've watched the Youtube videos!
Just born ham-fisted I suppose.

I am with you on the lack of ability with silicone sealant. I've had plenty of practice being a builder but can't get a result that I'm happy with. I've come across some window fitters who are excellent at this but most plumbers aren't.

Glazing putty is easy, make yourself a putty finishing tool out of a piece of 15mm copper pipe. Cut about 150mm to 200mm off using a pipe slice or similar, put one end on a flat smooth surface and hammer about 50mm flat.

Apply putty to the window and smooth with your new putty tool, start in one corner and pull it down the whole length of the putty, It will remove any excess and smooth at the same time. It might take you 15 minutes to get the hang of it but you will be surprised how easy it is.

richlist wrote:Not so.....I've tried all of them.

But if anyone knows what fits that would be good.

Well, I have found a couple of things that have the same thread as a sealant tube, however the lids are short or have protrusions inside, and the only tube of sealant I have handy was unopened and so has a point on it, so I could not test for tightness.

The winners all came for the bathroom, and were a selection of caps from the couple of dozen small emollients and exfolients that MrsF has been given for Xmas over the last few years ans was saving in the cabinet under the sink. Also the top from the small bottles of conditioner that comes in a L'Oreal Castings hair dye kit are the same size, and slightly deeper.

Paul

redsturgeon wrote:...

He told me about "the silicone man". You might think that the tiler or decorator would apply the silicone as part of their job, but no, there is a guy who comes in at the end of the job when everyone else has finished and seals everything and covers all joins and gaps with silicone.

The best part though...the silicone man comes to work in a new Ferrari.

John

I was reminded of the silicone man today when I was making a pig's breakfast trying to silicone the radiator pipe holes, in a ham-fisted manner.

bungeejumper wrote:Putty's just a matter of getting three things right.

Fresh putty, properly warmed and 'worked up'. And use a proper putty knife with a 135 degree angle. (You really can't do it with an old wallpaper scraper. )

Oh, and don't put too much putty on in the first place. Probably the single most common beginner's mistake.

BJ

But what paint will stick to oil-based putty?

I find that the 'new' water-based paints flake from the putty bead, even old beads.

And professional painters are so pleased as the paint needs re-doing more often.

supremetwo wrote:But what paint will stick to oil-based putty?

I find that the 'new' water-based paints flake from the putty bead, even old beads.

And professional painters are so pleased as the paint needs re-doing more often.

I don't know, to be honest, because the only paint we ever seem to use on our house (or our business premises) is white Dulux Weathershield. Which will go straight onto the putty as long as it's been given a few days to dry out. I'd imagine that any oil-based primer would cope with putty, though the same might not be said for the water-based topcoat paints that the DIY sheds try to steer you toward.

Last year we had all our gutters and downpipes repainted, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that oil-based glosses are still out there. The ready-mixed colour range isn't great, but I think you can also get most shades from a Colorizer machine. The trick, then, is to go to a specialist decorator's store. But Johnsons have a basic range of ready-mixed oils.

BJ

DrFfybes wrote:

Stompa wrote:

richlist wrote:
What surprises me is that nobody supplies a cap to screw on a part used tube that would seal it.

From what I can make out they all have the same thread.

Well you can get this sort of thing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-Closure- ... 33aefd60e4

assuming the size is correct. But the postage is a bit steep!

I suspect it is a pretty common/standard thread size. Possibly a squeezy sauce bottle mayonnaise lid would fit.

I'm coming back to this thread, because I've just gone through the usual routine of reaching for a bit of sealant, only to find that it's all dried out, and that's even after trying to do a half-decent job of keeping the tube-ends sealed and air-tight....

I know there's been a bit of discussion around what else can be used to seal the ends when we want to store half-full ones back in our cupboards, and the above Ebay link to the Ottoseal caps looked really interesting until I realised it would cost almost £17 including delivery to get them to the UK!

Then I asked why we always make things hard for ourselves....

We know that the nozzles themselves fit the tube-threads, so why not just buy some cheap spare nozzles and make something out of those?

I've seen these Screwfix ones that cost £1.50 for 5, and that includes some nozzle end-caps too -

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense- ... pack/6830x

I reckon if we cut them short, just above the ridged 'grip' area of the nozzles, just above the thread itself, then we could then squeeze a large blob of gap-fill or similar hard-setting gloop into the open-end where we've sliced it, and then we've got something similar to the expensive Ebay caps for next to nothing!

I think I'm going to give this a go. I'll also probably shove a large, round-headed nail into the tube itself, to that the nail-head seals the opening on the tube to some degree, and then I'm going to knock up a couple of these make-shift caps, and see if my sealant tubes can last a bit longer that they seem to.

I'll report back....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess wrote: I'll also probably shove a large, round-headed nail into the tube itself, to that the nail-head seals the opening on the tube to some degree, and then I'm going to knock up a couple of these make-shift caps, and see if my sealant tubes can last a bit longer that they seem to.

I'll report back....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

As long as it is stainless or other non-corrosive material, otherwise you will get a rusty mess.

Itsallaguess wrote:
I'm coming back to this thread, because I've just gone through the usual routine of reaching for a bit of sealant, only to find that it's all dried out, and that's even after trying to do a half-decent job of keeping the tube-ends sealed and air-tight....

I know there's been a bit of discussion around what else can be used to seal the ends when we want to store half-full ones back in our cupboards, and the above Ebay link to the Ottoseal caps looked really interesting until I realised it would cost almost £17 including delivery to get them to the UK!

Then I asked why we always make things hard for ourselves....

We know that the nozzles themselves fit the tube-threads, so why not just buy some cheap spare nozzles and make something out of those?

I've seen these Screwfix ones that cost £1.50 for 5, and that includes some nozzle end-caps too -

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense- ... pack/6830x

I reckon if we cut them short, just above the ridged 'grip' area of the nozzles, just above the thread itself, then we could then squeeze a large blob of gap-fill or similar hard-setting gloop into the open-end where we've sliced it, and then we've got something similar to the expensive Ebay caps for next to nothing!

I think I'm going to give this a go. I'll also probably shove a large, round-headed nail into the tube itself, to that the nail-head seals the opening on the tube to some degree, and then I'm going to knock up a couple of these make-shift caps, and see if my sealant tubes can last a bit longer that they seem to.

I'll report back....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Personally I've never had too much trouble keeping half used silicone, mastics or glues in these tubes for reasonable lengths of time, from six months to a couple of years. The stuff will go off eventually, but then I've had un-opened silicone go off if it's kept too long.

What I do is just turn a screw into the end of the nozzle to seal it, or sometimes jam a nail in and maybe a wrap the tip in cling film. When time comes to use it again, if its a few days or weeks later you can usually pull the screw out the front with a short plug of set silicone and you're ready to go. If it's maybe 8 months you take the nozzle off and remove the screw and poke/ gouge the set silicone or other compound out of the nozzle and normally it will come out leaving the nozzle very clean and ready for reuse...

I have numerous spare nozzles because I just keep reusing the same few.
BH

supremetwo wrote:

Itsallaguess wrote:

I'll also probably shove a large, round-headed nail into the tube itself, to that the nail-head seals the opening on the tube to some degree, and then I'm going to knock up a couple of these make-shift caps, and see if my sealant tubes can last a bit longer that they seem to.

I'll report back....

As long as it is stainless or other non-corrosive material, otherwise you will get a rusty mess.

Yes, certainly, and I should really have noted that in my post, so thanks for raising this important point!

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

bionichamster wrote:
What I do is just turn a screw into the end of the nozzle to seal it, or sometimes jam a nail in and maybe a wrap the tip in cling film.

When time comes to use it again, if its a few days or weeks later you can usually pull the screw out the front with a short plug of set silicone and you're ready to go.

If it's maybe 8 months you take the nozzle off and remove the screw and poke/ gouge the set silicone or other compound out of the nozzle and normally it will come out leaving the nozzle very clean and ready for reuse...

I think it's the longer time-frame tube-stores that I always seem to have issues with, and I also like the idea of being able to store them without the full-length nozzles on, as it would suit the cupboard where I usually keep my tubes in if I could stack them on their sides with a shallower cap on, so my idea would hopefully kill two birds with one stone.

Anyhow, for the sake of a couple of quid, I'm willing to give it a go and see how I get on.

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

Itsallaguess wrote:I think it's the longer time-frame tube-stores that I always seem to have issues with, and I also like the idea of being able to store them without the full-length nozzles on, as it would suit the cupboard where I usually keep my tubes in if I could stack them on their sides with a shallower cap on, so my idea would hopefully kill two birds with one stone.

Anyhow, for the sake of a couple of quid, I'm willing to give it a go and see how I get on.

Yes you should have a better chance of success.

I had an old tube of nine quid Sikaflex that I'd sealed with a screw down the nozzle. The entire contents of the nozzle were solid, but I salvaged it by removing the nozzle and gouging out another quarter inch of solidified plug. Adding a new nozzle meant I could use the rest.

Scott.

Recently I've had most luck saving sealant by leaving the nozzle on , wrapping a piece of polythene (usually a bit ripped off an old carrier bag ) around the nozzle opening and then winding round a miniature elastic hair band to secure the polythene .
Similar to these .
Which asks a further question , how does someone in China make a profit by putting 500 mini hair bands in an envelope and still give free postage all for 99p ?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/500pcs-Mini-Cl ... c2fff62337

Sometimes when I think the tube has gone off completely, there is actually some to be salvaged part way down. Cut the tube neatly all the way through about an inch or two from the end with a stanley knife, then remove the set plug from inside it with a screwdriver. Put the two parts together, bind with a bit of tape, and put back into the gun and squeeze the unset stuff out. Gets me out of having to make a special trip to Wickes when I'm in the middle of doing a job.

I have different rules for silicon (or black mastic) sealant and for 'decorators caulk. I cap both with a small piece of cling film, then for decorators caulk I rinse the nozzle and screw it back whereas for silicon I screw on a new nozzle: life is too short - and the job too messy and sticky - to clean a silicon nozzle properly.