How To Apply Shower Cabin Silicone At Home?
The silicone sealant used for installation of shower cabin and bath materials not having proper features becomes moldy and turns black in time due to exposed to intense humidity and water. Both an unhealthy and ugly appearance come into view. We should make sealant maintenance once a year and replace it if worn out for not to encounter with this view.
What is shower cabin silicone sealant?
Silicone is a construction material having an enormous area of use. It is used for fillet, leak tightness, insulation and adherence works. One of the areas of usage is bathroom. It is preferred to avoid edge leakage of shower enclosure, basin, lavatory and urinal. It is used for corner joints, avoiding water and moisture, filling clearances at the points of contact. It is in white and transparent color in general. Different colors are also available for different grounds.
Despite the silicone sealant is a long lived material the darkening and molding occurs if exposed to water too much. 100D Shower Cabine Kicthen & Bathroom Silicone provides full coverage on the wet areas like lavatory and tiles
What should be taken into account when choosing shower cabin silicone?
High quality silicones lead to less tarnishing in time, you have to choose the most quality product for the long life usage.
It should be ensured that the product is definitely silicone and you should not prefer products including solvents because of cost efficiency. Because, the cheap silicones including solvents subject to volume loss and lead to leakage in time on the place applied. It turns black in a very short time and may produce mold. It may cause thereafter major costs for you.
Because bathrooms are exposed to moisture and water on a regular basis there is a high probability leading to accumulation of bacteria. For this reason, you should prefer antibacterial 100% silicone shower enclosure sealant.
What should be taken into account before applying shower cabin silicone sealant?
At first, clean the bathroom. The most essential point in this phase is removing dust, oil and dirty from the areas silicone is to be applied. Thus, silicone sealant to be applied will bind properly with the surface.
How the remainder of silicone sealants are cleaned?
You cannot glue the new silicone without removing old silicone sealant completely. You have to remove all old silicone sealants remaining on the surface silicone is to be applied neatly. For this, you can benefit from a cutter tool like carpet knife or razor. You can remove silicone sealant from the area by uplifting with the razor longitudinally after cutting from the end of the silicone located on the corner. Then, the same process is applied for the other side of silicone remainder.
Clean up the remaining sealant on the surface by scratching with the help of carpet knife or razor after removed all the silicone. You may sand the surface lightly with the sandpaper if asperities are detected on it. You may also clean the surface by pouring acetone or pure alcohol on the hard surface of the scouring sponge to avoid damaging bath surface.
How should shower cabin silicone be applied?
The surface is cleaned with the help of a cloth with detergent or damp cloth after removing silicone, then dry the surface completely. You have to ensure that the surface is dried completely. Otherwise, the application will be unreliable.
It is useful to have practice if you will do it for the first time. You can try to use a caulking gun on the cardboard or any other plain material.
Adhere the masking tape in a way so that application area is to be left open only. So, you may apply it on a straight line.
Open the nozzle of the silicone sealant loaded in caulking gun. Begin to tighten silicone sealant holding at the angle of 45 degrees end-to-end. Care should be taken for applying this in a slow and careful manner.
Leveling process is carried out with a trimming apparatus or your finger on the area where sealant was applied without applying much pressure. If you want, you may also stick your finger into a warm water. You may remove the masking tapes after applying silicone properly without drying. Wait 24 hours for complete drying.
Close the tap of the tube after completion of applying process. The nozzle of the tube will be dried after a while but this does not prevent you from reusing it. The inner content will not be dried although cover was dried. You may reuse it by cutting the dried end part.
Can You Apply Silicone Sealant Without a Caulking Gun?
Yes, it is possible to apply the silicone sealant even if you don’t have a caulking gun. Instead of the gun, take a tube of sealant into your hands and squeeze its contents out.
Place your hand near the base of the tube and push on it like you would a tube of toothpaste. The same tips for application apply. Move at a steady pace and keep the tip as level as you can.
How to Apply Silicone in 4 Steps?
Required Materials
- Silicone Gun
- Silicone
- Snap Blade Knife
- Joint leveling apparatus
-
Clean the Surface
The most important issue at this stage is that the application surface must be clean, free of dust, oil and similar things. In this way, the silicone you will apply will effectively adhere to the surface.
If there is old and cured silicone in the application area, scrape them with a cutting tool such as a razor or knife without damaging the surface. Clean the scraped surface with a cloth soaked with detergent. You should make sure that the surface is thoroughly dry after cleaning. The application you will perform on wet surfaces will not be effective.
Prepare the Silicone
Attach silicone to the silicone gun. Make a small incision in the tip of the silicone with the help of a sharp tool.Make a try
If you are going to use a silicone gun for the first time, it would be good to do a few tries on a blank cardboard or paper first.Apply
Apply the silicone, which you hold at a 45-degree angle, slowly and carefully in a flat manner to the surface where you will apply it. Level it by pressing the silicone with a silicone spatula or finger within 5 minutes after applying the silicone to ensure sufficient contact with the surface. This process will both provide better adhesion of the silicone and result in a better filling outlook. Do not let it come into contact with water for 24 hours. Smeared but not yet uncured silicone can be removed by a silicone cleaning thinner. Cured silicone can be cleaned by mechanical means.
How to Use Mirror Adhesive/Silicone?
Mirrors are an important part of our home decoration. We use mirrors in every room of our homes, from the living room to the bedroom, from the bathroom to the hallway. What if we told you that it is possible to install mirrors without drilling walls, using drills and getting dirty? The only material we need is mirror adhesive.
Not all adhesives are suitable for mirror installation. oksizy Mirror Adhesive(mirror silicone) has been specially developed for gluing mirrors. It provides long-term use because it does not cause corrosion in mirrors. It is odorless. It does not harm the environment because it does not contain solvents. With oksizy Mirror Adhesive, you can strongly glue the mirror to many areas such as tiles, wood, walls and cabinets.
What Is A Polyurethane Sealant? Where And How To Use?
What is a Sealant?
Sealant is basicly an insulating and grouting material. They can have ±25% movement capability. The flexibility ratio can be further increased as required. It is used for sealing, filling gaps, keeping water and air away from joints, absorbing the natural movements of building materials and increasing aesthetics. Silicone and polyurethane are two popular sealant types. Despite their common characteristics, there are significant differences between them.
What is the Basic Differences between Silicone & Polyurethane Sealants?
The main difference is at the chemical level. Polyurethane is an organic material. Silicone is an inorganic material. Polyurethane sealants; properties such as hardness, adhesion strength, thixotropy and flexibility can be easly manupulated according to need. Its mechanical strength and adhesion strength can be increased to very high levels compared to silicon.
In order to understand how a sealant performs outdoors, it is important to look at its resistance to sunlight. In the presence of UV light, an organic material, polyurethane, begins to return to its original polymer form. It deteriorates by losing its properties over time. But silicone, an inorganic material, this does not happen thus provides high UV resistance. However, oksizy polyurethane construction sealant has maximum UV resistance with the help of some special additives and does not deteriorate in any way and even shows a high level of resistance to color change.
POLYURETHANE SEALANT; APPLICATION AREAS AND CLASSIFICATION
Polyurethane Sealants Used for Sealing Purposes
Shore A hardness up to 45 polyurethane sealants are classified as low modulus. It is used in joints between prefabricated building elements, in joints of rainwater collection pipes on roofs and in rain gutters, insulating joints between precast concrete blocks and sealing of joints of aluminum pipes in HVAC (ventilation) sector.
Polyurethane sealants are available in the market with the following names; Polyurethane construction sealant, polyurethane sealant, non-staining polyurethane sealant, UV resistant PU sealant, bubble-free polyurethane sealant and modified silicone sealant.
Polyurethane Sealants Used for Bonding purposes
Polyurethane sealants with Shore A hardness of 45 and above are referred to as adhesive sealants. They have high surface adhesion and low flexibility. Especially in automotive industry used in the manufacture of vehicles, in the repair of auto glass, in the sealing of metal structures such as containers and trucks, in the manufacture and installation of air conditioning in HVAC systems, in order to reduce vibration and provide sealing in metal sheet joints.
Names commonly used in the market; Polyurethane adhesive sealant, extra strong polyurethane sealant, Premium polyurethane sealant, PU auto glass adhesive, PU metal adhesive, PU glass adhesive and PU marine adhesive.
Can You Apply New Silicone Sealant over an Existing Layer?
No, applying a new sealant over a layer already in place is not advisable. The old layer may be uneven in parts, thus preventing the new layer from filling in the opening properly.
Remove the old layer first using a razor blade and some soap before you apply the new coat of sealant.
Can You Paint over the Silicone Sealant?
Whether or not you can paint over the silicone sealant depends on the variant you used. Check on the label first to see if the sealant can be painted over.
If you are planning to paint over the sealant, remember to let it dry first. Painting over the sealant while it’s still wet could lead to cracks forming.