Archive for January, 2008

Caulkup Cockup

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

While it’s usually not worth it for your average homeowner to shell out the big bucks for a high-quality professional grade tool, other times it’s not worth it not to shell out for a high-quality tool. You’ll save (or overspend) hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you can’t figure out when it’s appropriate to be frugal or shell out the cash. I’ll save you the trouble in this case and summarize this post as follows:

Don’t ever buy a cheap caulk gun.

I did, and since the Old Man has many different cracks and crevices that need caulking (especially the windows), and I just about broke my hand after running through 3-4 tubes of caulk. I finally said to hell with it and tossed my $3.50 Home Depot special into the trash and bought a $14 caulk gun at my local paint store. Take a look at the difference:


The most obvious difference is the fact tha the trigger handle is almost 2 inches longer, the plunger has a grabby rubber gasket on it, and overall, it makes caulking about ten times easier than with the crappy gun.

So all of you housebloggers out there who have crappy caulk guns: Buy yourself a new caulk gun for the new year. You won’t regret it.