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How to Easily Remove Old Caulk

December 20, 2018 By //  by Hannah 11 Comments

How to easily remove old caulk

Hey friends! This week I’m sharing another home maintenance tutorial. Or maybe I should start calling these “fixes to the dumb mistakes that my husband and I make”. No one is perfect right? Well, when we renovated our kitchen a few years ago we did it right. We used the best cabinet paint, installed some beautiful quartzite countertops and a classic subway tile backsplash. Then, we got sloppy, and I mean really sloppy on the final step which was caulking the joint between the counter top and the backsplash. It’s not that we didn’t try, we’re just both horrible at laying a clean bead of caulk. I’ve since then invested in some tools to get cleaner caulk lines (tbd if they actually work). So after a few years of staring at messy caulk lines I finally decide to remove the old caulk. This tutorial will walk you through how I easily removed old caulk from my kitchen counters.

Before I walk you through how I did it, here are some embarrassing pictures of the before… Don’t laugh too hard 😉

How to easily remove old caulk
How to easily remove old caulk

You’ll need just a few items to follow along with this tutorial. All of the items can be purchased on Amazon. I’m willing to bet that you could get them at your local hardware store as well.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will make a commission if you click-through and make a purchase.

Materials

Goo Gone

Paper towels or rag

Toothbrush

Caulk Removal Tool

Razor Scraper

Directions

Step 1

First, Spray the goo gone all over the line of old caulk. Go to town with the Goo Gone. If you don’t spray enough it won’t work. You can see in the image below the orange hue. That’s the Goo Gone. Let it soak in for 10-15 minutes.

How to easily remove old caulk

Step 2

After the goo gone has set in and started to loosen the caulk, use the razor scraper to release the caulk from the two surfaces. By two surfaces, I mean where it is stuck to the counter tops and where it is stuck to the wall.

How to easily remove old caulk
How to easily remove old caulk

Step 3

Next, use the caulk removal tool to break the caulk away. You can use the edge of it to pull or push at the caulk and loosen it up to the point that you can just pull it off.

How to easily remove old caulk
How to easily remove old caulk

Step 4

For the last step, use the toothbrush to clean out the gap where the old caulk was. Then use paper towels to clean up the mess. Finally, clean your counters using your normal counter cleaner.

And that’s it! If you give the goo gone enough time to work it will be a very easy process. Below is an after photo with the caulk removed. It looks so much better already. Now, do I re-caulk it or just leave it as is?

How to easily Remove old caulk

I hope that this post is helpful for anyone that is either renovating an old home and replacing old caulk or perhaps for those unskilled caulkers out there like me!

Follow me on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook so that you never miss a post.

<3 Hannah

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kippi

    December 28, 2018 at 10:58 am

    Thank you for sharing these handy tips. I pinned it on my spring cleaning board. Happy New Year, Kippi

    Reply
    • Hannah

      December 28, 2018 at 1:33 pm

      You’re so welcome. Thanks for pinning!

      Reply
  2. Roni

    December 28, 2018 at 10:42 pm

    Yes ma’am I am an unskilled caulker. Simple and easy to understand thanks so much and I pinned this to my home cleaning board. Thanks for the tips. Happy New Year! #prettypintasticparty

    Reply
    • Hannah

      December 29, 2018 at 9:37 am

      I’m glad to know that I’m not the only unskilled caulker out there! Thanks for pinning!

      Reply
  3. Granmama15

    December 31, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    This definitely was pin worthy, but definitely worth the read! I have used Goop before, but this sounds easier and faster! I am adding Goo Gone to my household product shelf. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Hannah

      January 1, 2019 at 9:47 am

      Thanks for pinning and reading!

      Reply
  4. Jeane

    April 16, 2019 at 12:44 am

    this will help us in the bottowm of our shower when we remove the old caulking. Thanks!!!

    Reply
    • Hannah

      April 16, 2019 at 9:54 am

      I’m glad that you found it helpful Jeanne. Thanks for stopping by.

      Reply
  5. Greg J

    February 18, 2020 at 12:55 am

    Just remember to remove all traces of the Goo Gone with denatured alcohol before applying new caulking or you’ll have problems getting the caulking to adhere.

    Reply
    • Hannah

      February 18, 2020 at 7:18 pm

      Yes! Great point.

      Reply
  6. Kathryn

    July 2, 2020 at 8:54 am

    Great tips! Thank you!

    Reply

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