Self-levelling caulk

Today I chipped cracked hardened tar and cracked cement off the bottom of the front steps. Over the years, the sidewalk has sunk and separated from the front steps of the house to the tune of about three quarters of an inch. A series of ineffective repairs have left water dripping into the crack between the two and it’s certainly doing no good for the front foundation. So I needed to remove the old repairs and get going on a new one.

I’ll write more about the repairs later, but for now, I’ll just point out a few things about self-levelling caulk:

The pros:

  • No need to smooth out your bead
  • Levels beatifully
  • Super easy to get out of the caulk gun
  • Completely fills cracks
  • Reminds me of chocolate milk (even though it neither smells nor looks like any kind of milk, much less chocolate milk)

The cons:

  • Can’t be used at all on vertical surfaces
  • Kinda drippy
  • If you have any voids beneath your crack, you’ll come back 20 minutes later to find $10.00 worth of caulk dripped down into your new caulk-filled sinkhole causing you to go back to the store the next day and purchase some non self-levelling caulk to fill the entrance to the sinkhole and then another $10.00 of self-levelling caulk to bring the caulk level in the crack to the level of the sidewalk.

But I’m not bitter or anything.

2 Responses to “Self-levelling caulk”

  1. Jocelyn Says:

    always a catch isn’t there? I don’t think we’ve tried it yet so thanks for the review.

  2. John Leeke Says:

    Before you put that goop in there, tuck “backer rod” in the joint. It keep the goop from draining out. See a picture of backer rod here:

    http://historichomeworks.com/hhw/reports/reports.htm#Woodwork

    and download the sample pages that show more details on how to use it.

    Here’s my video blog:

    http://historichomeworks.phovi.com/

    John
    by hammer and hand great works do stand

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