I noticed that the dust accumulated in the bathrooms seem caked up,
probably due to the humidity in the bathrooms, although we do leave
the bathroom fans on most of the time until we go to sleep. The dust
didn't get into the caulking before it cured though.
Has anyone found a good cleaning agent to effectively clean the caked
up dust found as mentioned above so as not to ruin the finish on the
baseboards and the paint on the wall, or an effective method?
Thanks for your time and courtesy.
> I tried cleaning the dust off the silicone caulking on top of my
> baseboards in my bathrooms and the normal dust cleaning with Swiffer
> mitten doesn't seem to work at all. . . .
> Has anyone found a good cleaning agent to effectively clean the caked
> up dust found as mentioned above so as not to ruin the finish on the
> baseboards and the paint on the wall, or an effective method?
Be advised that standard practice is to fasten baseboard
moulding to the wall by nails, not glue or caulk. That
way any dust can be removed from either wallpaper or
moulding by vacuum cleaning or a soft brush.
If for some unstated reason baseboard moulding had
to be fastened to the wall with some adhesive or filler
silicone caulk might be avoided as (a) unpaintable
and (b) likelier to attract dust than repel it.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Water and soap.
You've discovered why silicone was the wrong stuff to use along the
baseboard. The best way to clean it is by wiping it down with lots of water,
which is a lousy idea around wood. Flush the dirt off, in other words. If
you ever get to the end of your project list (ha ha ha) and you're looking
for something to do, remove the silicone and replace with something which
dries hard and can be painted. Then, coat with polyurethane, but don't do
this until the paint has absolutely no smell. This always takes longer than
whatever curing time is indicated on the paint can.
Thanks for the advice, but the baseboards were indeed nailed using
finishing nails and a pneumatic nail gun. The silicone caulking was
use purely for esthetic purposes to give a nice smooth finished look.
As I mentioned before, the silicone should be removed and replaced with
putty that dries hard and can be painted with a glossy finish. The silicone
will be an endless pain in the ass.
I'd try a damp cloth first. Maybe a cloth with a little
Windex or denatured alcohol for the more stubborn areas.
I have often been tempted to try silicone caulk to finish
the edge of the baseboard and prevent any hairline cracks.
So far, I've resisted that temptation. But now we have the
paintable silicone caulks and I wondered if anyone had
tried that and with what result?
--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| ma...@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yep, you are correct about that. Thanks for your advice!
Doesn't ever work around my exterior windows. The silicone used around
those stays dusty year round. Cannot get it clean without major
scrubbing, and then it is dusty again within a week.
Silicone caulk has a few good uses, but it is NOT a panacea.
sdb
--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com
For a 'painters caulk' I like working with 'Alex Plus'. It is
paintable, quite sticky, and cleans up with water. It doesn't dry out,
shrink and crack near as quick as plain 'Alex'.
I wasn't clear. My meaning was that the only way to clean silicone caulk is
to flush it with water, and the only place you can usually get away with
that is in the bath/shower area.