Caulking Question - Uneven gap

[wcndave]

Just finishing off some bathroom units, and doing the silicon now, which I hate as I never practice enough to be any good. Anyway, I did the first bits which look ok-ish, however the sink has a large gap at the back, and it gets smaller until there is no gap at the front middle.

I tend to use the lay, spray, plastic scraper method, however the sinks are also angled out, so this looks a nightmare, and I know what a mess it could turn out to be...

Any thoughts? My only one at this time is to switch to the blue tape and finger method.

This is the done part, leading up to the sink.

Here is the gap

Here is the gap narrowing towards the front middle

 

[lurker]

I find a cut potato works better than a wet finger

 

[wcndave]

Cut into the shape of a finger?

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Been there, done that. The basin, not the spud.

If you haven't already, get you hands on a fugi profiler set. Tricky bit is to follow the upright so you project it to the flat surface but angling the profiler to make the angle. Use slow curing sanitary sealant to give yourself some time. If you make a complete mess of it, wipe it off and use white spirit to clean up.

 

[MattRoberts]

+1 for the Fugi kit - they're awesome at leaving lovely even beads

 

[Jasper42]

+ 2 Fugi kit, that and some soapy water in a spray bottle. Take your time think of it as a work of art, if it goes wrong wipe off and try again.

 

[wcndave]

Thanks, I have these plastic scrapers, yes.

So, I gave it a go, and didn't turn out as I thought. With the tape, the "bead" was way to big, and lifting the tape created a nasty raised line.

I found that what I actually need to do is push it right under, so that the joint is basically _under_ the sink radius. However I had quite a bit of excess then, and clean up with "aqua ragia" (white spirit in Italy - which is a bit different), was not easy.

In the end I have an "ok" seal, however there's one part where the transition is not great and I pushed too far under.

Can one go over silicon again? or do I have to remove it all and try again?

The other challenge is that the worktop is a grained style laminate, so the silicon gets into all the cracks that resemble grain, and creates a spiderweb effect. Going with the grain is no problem, however going against, the "fuji" tool simply can't pick that up.

It's a shame for the finishing touches to look a bit poor on such a work of art! Recessed sinks next time!

 

[AlwaysLearning]

Depending on the sealant you can go over it but it has to be done before it fully cures.

As for the grain, I'd get what I could off now, leave it to fully cure, then use a silicone sealant eater. Carefully mask off, apply a tiny amount of eater, leave it less than the instructions say, then use a stiff toothbrush. And repeat. It will take some time though to get it all out little by little