On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:49:35 -0700 (PDT), Higgs Boson
wrote:

On Jul 31, 3:45*am, ransley wrote:
On Jul 30, 6:58*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:

I am having a very long and annoying time removing the old caulk from
my tub where it meets the tile wall. *Somebody did a terrible job
recaulking, a while back. *I tried repeatedly to deal with the mold
exteriorly with various mildewcides. *Nothing worked, so I have now
grasped the nettle, and day by day, am chipping away at this train
wreck with various tools, mainly a razor blade in a straight holder.
Ghastly business!

QUESTION: *Since I don't ever want to go through this again, I want to
clean/disinfect/whatever the area with the strongest and best
mildewcide on the market before I recaulk.

Everybody has their own favorites. *Is there a concensus?

TIA

Since mold is an issue its going to come back, it will come back
because mold is airborn and everywhere, you just have the right
environment for it to grow, you need more ventilation and for it to
dry out, its pobably never drying fully between showers. Bleach is
cheap and good to kill it then clean the residue, I had a bad place
that stayed wet and kept a little bottle of bleach on a spray bottle
to get any mold as t started. Cleaning the joint of soap residue is
real important to get new caulk to bond to the tile, its hard to be
sure its going to be clean.

That's discouraging. Even if we beat out our brains cleaning,
disinfecting,
drying, etc. and sealing as best we can with silicone caulk -- it's
STILL
going to come back?

Yes, particularly if you insist on giving it a place to grow and its fav
environment. When you re-caulk make sure everything is secure and smooth. If
it does grow back it won't follow any water into the wall and it'll be easy to
clean/kill (bleach works wonders, but be careful). Remove the constant source
of water and it won't grow back.

How is it going to get in?

Air. Spores are everywhere.