I took down a shampoo dispenser and now I have several big blobs of moldy silicone caulk on the shower wall. I bought a plastic razor scraper and a bottle of Goo Gone Caulk Remover, which gets high marks for removing silicone on Amazon, but I haven't even made a dent. I think part of the problem is that the wall is vertical (duh 🙂 and the remover is liquid, so it doesn't stay on the caulk long enough to do the job. Is there a gel formula out there that works well, or some other technique that would work better?
Shower – How to remove silicone caulk from a shower wall
caulkremovalshowersilicone
Related Solutions
By all means, use denatured or isopropyl alcohol to remove all mineral spirits. Go over the entire area a few times with the alcohol on a clean micro fiber cloth, turning the cloth each time to be sure no spirits are being reintroduced to the surface. The surface should be squeaky clean.
A utility knife works pretty well for me.
If it truly is granite, it is difficult to damage with steel blades, except by repeated slashing.
Of course you won't be able to remove every shred of the old caulk, but as long as there is significant clean and bare edge in the gap, it is good enough to hold a new application.
A powerful shop vacuum mated to a crevice tool slowly run along the gap should do great job of getting all the dust and crud out and maybe remove some loose old caulk unreachable with the knife..
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Best Answer
If you saturate toilet paper with the remover and slap it on your vertical surface it will stick there and hold it against the caulking. Practice a couple times with water to get a feel for the appropriate amount of moisture. Scrape off as much as possible before you start in with the remover though. Just to clarify, you should be using a plastic blade in the scraper so you don't damage or leave marks on the wall.
EDIT: BTW, you can also use acetone (i.e. nail polish remover) to remove silicone caulking. Acetone attacks some plastics, so I'd only go this route on tile.
EDIT 2: If neither of those options work, you can also go to an auto supply store and pick up an adhesive eraser wheel. You use these with an electric drill and they are designed to take adhesives off of auto bodies without damaging the paint. Again, this might not be the best thing to use on a plastic surround.