Channeling Mr Gimlet

The seal around our guest bath had been cracking up for a while, and like a walrus at a Tupperware party I’m always happier if I have a good tight seal. The caulk was old and shriveled and generally of poor quality, so I decided I’d have a go at redoing it myself.

Home Depot is the place to go if you’re looking for caulk on a Saturday afternoon. There were various scraping options ranging from razor blades up, so I picked out a good sturdy tool.

Unfortunately I forgot that caulk comes in a variety of colors, and when I decided to start the job this afternoon I discovered I’d have to make another trip to the store, because I really wanted white caulk.

I went to the customer service desk, caulk in hand, and got a refund. I picked out some fairly pricey white caulk and checked out again.

Back at the bathroom, I struggled for a while with the metal caulking gun. I’d carefully cut off the tip of the caulk, but no matter how hard I squeezed the white stuff wouldn’t ooze out of the top. Turns out there’s a second seal inside (one of the seven no doubt), and once I punctured that a few times I was away.

It’s quite a messy job, and I’m not exactly a caulk master, but I think I managed to fill all the cracks in the room in the end.

So now I’m just sitting downstairs, feeling satisfied, and waiting for my caulk to harden.

See also: Finbarr Saunders, Crank Yankers.