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?

How is it going to get in?

Mildew and mold spores float around in the air everywhere. When we got
a timer on our bath fan, it helped cut down on mildew. We have a shower
stall, tiled walls and floor, and it gets a little mildew in the corners
but not enough to bother cleaning oftener than every couple of months.
I regrouted the tile myself about 4-5 years ago, and could have used
more muscle ... there are little dips in the grout and they seem to
gather mildew first. Too old to do it over )