"mrcheerful ." wrote in message
...

"Richard Savage" wrote in message
...
Trying to re-silicone my shower enclosu

[1] remove all old silicone.

[2] apply thin bead of new silicone along junction to be sealed

[3] run wet finger or similar shaped tool along bead of new silicone
pushing excess ahead of tool.

Now what am I doing wrong? The excess builds up in front of my finger
until there is too much and it then deposits either side of the bead
like
a little snow drift!

I find it much easier to "pull" my finger along the bead, rather than "push"
it

I assume that this means that there is too much silicone laid down in
the
first place but if I don't put enough down I get gaps in the smoothed
bead.

Yes - you need to get the balance right and judge how much silicone to apply
in the first place; it may mean varying the bead thickness according to the
size of the gap to be filled as you move along the interface

Always apply the silicone ahead of the tube, rather than drag the nozzle,
this fills better so you need to apply less.

Are you saying that as you apply the bead, you are moving the nozzle away
from you, ie over the top of the newly-injected bead? Sounds much more
difficult; you can't see the size of bead you've just laid down...

Try to get the nozzle cut to
the right width and shape so that no extra smoothing is necessary.

Yes, the correct nozzle size helps enormously, but I disgree about not
smoothing over the bead - you should always do so as the action of smoothing
helps to ensure the silicon is properly bonded to the substrate, and there
are no tiny gaps which could allow water penetration.

David