How to quickly remove silicone sealant?

Silicone sealant is a reliable material for sealing. Apply this material in the repair work for sealing gaps, gaps, joints. For sealant there is use in the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, balcony and other rooms. This is a universal tool that will facilitate repair work, help to correct the shortcomings. During operation, there are situations where silicone can get onto the surface being treated, clothing or hands. How to protect yourself from this and the better to remove the sealant from different surfaces, we will tell in this article.

Silicone-based sealant suitable for working with different surfaces. It has increased adhesion to many materials.Due to its properties, sealant is very often used when performing minor works or major repairs.

Silicone freezes in the air pretty quickly. If the sealant gets on the surface, it is better to remove it immediately. As soon as the silicone hardens, it will be much more difficult to remove it. Silicone on surfaces that have been machined for a long time is difficult to remove, it is especially difficult to remove it from porous surfaces or tiles, since it has already deeply eaten into the material.

Silicone sealant is difficult to clean, even using special means to remove it. For cleaning, you can apply mechanical cleaning and try to remove contamination. It is difficult to remove the sealant mechanically; it is also necessary to apply dry cleaning and try to clean the silicone with white spirit, acetone or other means.

The mechanical method is suitable for surfaces that are not visible at first glance. Otherwise, in the event of minor scratches, the appearance of this material may be damaged.

When sealing joints or cracks, when protecting surfaces from the adverse effects of aggressive substances, a sealant is very often used for gluing the structure. This material has successfully replaced outdated putties and grouting, thanks to its properties and excellent adhesion, it has become much easier to process seams or repair cracks.

Sinks, baths, showers - this is not a complete list, where silicone sealant is used. With this material, you can seal the joints between the bathroom and the wall, glue the walls of the aquarium or seal the joints in the shower.

When working with a material you should know how to quickly clean it from any surface. During operation, it is better to erase the excess silicone immediately, otherwise the sealant will harden very quickly and removing excess will be problematic.

By sealing the seams, the glue can get on the clothes and stain it. First of all, you should protect yourself from such contamination and work in special working clothes. If, however, the sealant gets on the fabric, you should know how to remove it from the surface.

If the contamination is fresh, substitute the contaminated area under hot water and remove it.In the case when the sealant is already frozen, this treatment will not give results.

Silicone sealant is used to repair the motor in the car. Often silicone falls on the covers of the machine. To clean the cover, as for any fabric surface, it is better to immediately remove fresh pollution. When using aggressive chemistry is likely to damage the fabric. A solvent is applied to the contaminated area and left to soak for 30-40 minutes. The impregnated material is cleaned with a brush. After that, the fabric is washed by hand or in a washing machine.

If it is undesirable to use a solvent, you can use another way to remove the sealant:

• clothes or other fabric laid out on the surface;
• fabric should be stretched slightly;
• take a scraper or a non-sharp knife and clean the silicone off the surface;
• a trace of oil is rubbed with an alcohol solution or vinegar;
• the cloth is soaked for 3 hours and then washed with hands or a machine.

When choosing a silicone sealant for repairs, they take into account which surfaces it is suitable for. In the store you can find alkaline, acid and neutral sealant. When buying an acid sealant, you should know that they should not process metal surfaces.The letter “A” will be written on its package, which means that it contains acetic acid, which can lead to metal corrosion.

Also, it should not be used when working with marble surfaces, cement. For such materials it is better to choose a neutral sealant. It combines with any surface.

Silicone is required to be removed not only during its application.

It is removed in the case of:

• when the old sealant has already fallen into disrepair, has lost its complete sealing;
• during the work it turned out that due to a violation of the rules there was no complete sealing;
• there was a mold, a fungus;
• if the surface was accidentally smeared.

The sealant penetrates very deep into the material, because of this it is very difficult to remove it from the surface, especially when it has already been in contact with it for a long period.

Silicone can be removed in different ways. For some surfaces it is better to choose a mechanical method. This method should not be used to clean glass surfaces, tiles, acrylic or enamel baths, otherwise you can easily ruin them. The mechanical method is suitable for cleaning the surface, which is not visible, as there is a chance that during cleaning it may damage the surface, scratches may remain.

In order to remove the old layer of sealant, you should take a knife and pick up the seam. After the top layer of silicone is cut, remove the remnants of it with the sharp end of the knife and smooth out the surface to be treated. For cleaning, you can take sandpaper or pumice. Clean the surface carefully so as not to scratch or damage it.

Remove silicone with special products. You can purchase sealant in the form of a paste, cream, spray or solution. Let's stop on some of them.

Lugato silicon enterferner - This is a special paste, with which you can easily get rid of dirt on many types of surfaces. Paste cleans the sealant on glass, plastic, tile, removes dirt from acrylic surfaces and enamel. Suitable for metal surfaces, concrete, stone, plaster, well removes glue from wooden surfaces. To remove the sealant, remove the silicone layer with a sharp knife, its thickness should not be more than 2 mm. Paste on the surface for 1.5 hours. With a wooden spatula, the remaining silicone is removed. The surface is washed with detergents.

Sili-kill removes dirt from brick surfaces and concrete, ceramics, metal, glass.When using cut the top layer of sealant, and this means is applied on the surface for half an hour. After that you should wash it with soapy water.

Penta 840 - it is a remover for cleaning sealant from metal, concrete, glass, and stone surfaces. This tool can handle baths of cast iron and tile. This tool is checked in a small area. To do this, it is applied for a few minutes on a part of the surface and inspect whether everything is in order. After checking, apply a wash to the sealant. After half an hour, the silicone swells and is removed with a sponge.

Dow Corning OS-2 serves for cleaning silicone from glass, metal, plastic, ceramics. The top layer of sealant is removed. This tool is applied for 10 minutes. Using a damp cloth or sponge, the residues are removed.

This method is used for the delicate removal of silicone or grease stains from it. You should take a piece of gauze or a tampon, lightly moisten it and put the salt inside. Such a salt bag should rub the surface, while it should not be rubbed heavily, the movement should be circular.When the silicone is removed, a greasy residue remains on the surface, which is removed with dish detergent.

You can clean the silicone from the product and any surface by chemical means. These tools help get rid of silicone quickly and easily. You can take for such purposes white spirit. With its help, the adhesive composition is removed from tile, ceramics, cast iron, glass.

White spirit is not used on a painted surface. When using this tool, it is applied on cotton wool or gauze and clean the contaminated place. After a few minutes, when the silicone is already soft, it is removed with the edge of a knife or blade.

You can remove the pollution with acetone. Before use, it is applied to a small area. If the surface remains unchanged, acetone can be applied to the entire seam. Acetone is more aggressive than white spirit and has a strong odor. The liquid is applied to the seam and wait 15-20 minutes until it softens and loses its shape. Leftovers should be removed with a cloth.

Do not use plastic cleaner, otherwise acetone can dissolve the plastic surface. Use it for products from a tile, glass, cast iron.

After processing, an oil stain remains on the surface, which can also be removed with acetone or white spirit, using vinegar. It has a sharp specific smell, so you should work with it in a respiratory mask and air the room well.

Other solvents can be used, such as kerosene and gasoline. Sometimes these tools can cope with contamination no worse than expensive purchased products.

When you remove the silicone sealant use the necessary tools.

To clean the silicone from the hard surface, use:

• kitchen sponges;
• brushes;
• knife, for this work you should choose a special knife, you can take a shoe or clerical;
• screwdrivers;

• sandpaper;
• kitchen iron washcloth;
• plastic scraper;
• wooden stick for removing silicone residue.

You should prepare detergent for dishes, find old rags, rags to remove dirt from the surface.

Using the listed tools, you can easily get rid of the sealant on any surface, be it glass, plastic, wood, metal, as well as remove the old layer of sealant from the tile.

The work useful construction dryer. With it, the silicone is heated and then easily removed with a wooden or plastic scraper. In this way it is convenient to remove contamination from glass surfaces, mirrors, and aluminum surfaces.

Processing sealants and seams in the bathroom should be understood that after a while the old layer of silicone can become unusable. A mold appears at the joints and seams, which is no longer possible to remove, so you should remove the old sealant layer and fill the seams with a new grout. To remove the old layer from the tile, you should take a knife and cut off the top layer of silicone. A screwdriver can clear the gaps between the tiles. After the seams have been mechanically cleaned, the slots are recommended to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. A solvent is applied to the treated surface, after it is softened, the silicone will become easier to clean with a wooden or plastic spatula. Time to soften the silicone is necessary from two to twelve hours. More precisely should be indicated on the packaging.

Remove frozen silicone can be gasoline or kerosene. The tool is applied to the surface and slightly rubbed, then you should wait until the adhesive composition becomes soft. To remove silicone, you can try the tool "Penta 840".Before using it, they should be pre-treated with a small part of the tile. If you do not check the drug in a small area, the tile may be cracked, as the tile is not always resistant to the drug. If you need to remove the sealant from the side of the bath, it is important to consider the material from which it is made. For acrylic baths you need a special relationship. It is necessary to remove pollution from an acrylic bath only with special factory solvents. For cleaning pallets and showers it is not recommended to use sandpaper, iron wool, brushes.

Also, do not use organic solvents. All dirt removal work must be done carefully so as not to damage the surface to be treated. If the bath is steel or cast iron, you can clean it using abrasive materials and chemicals. Trying to scrub the silicone from the joints in the bathroom, it is important not to overdo it, so as not to scratch the surface.

If you need to remove the silicone sealant from glass surfaces, choose white spirit or gasoline. This can be done very quickly and easily at home.The fabric should be moistened with a solvent and applied to the glass; after a few minutes, the remaining silicone is easily removed. When working with a sealant, it is not uncommon for silicone to get on your clothes or remain on your hands. While the glue has not yet stiffened, the fabric is tensioned and, having picked it up with a spatula, the silicone is removed. If the glue had time to be absorbed into the fabric, to remove it, you should take vinegar, technical and medical alcohol. The chosen liquid is poured onto the contamination, the spot with the stain is rubbed with the help of a toothbrush, and the glue will start rolling out, forming lumps. After processing, you need to wash the clothes with your hands or in a washing machine.

If silicone comes in contact with your skin, you can try washing it off using regular salt. Put a little salt in a jar of warm water, hold your hand a little in this solution and then try to rub off the pumice. It is not always possible to get rid of the adhesive immediately, so this procedure is carried out during the day several times. You can try to lather your hands with soap and soap, then rub them with pumice. Using such a sanitary tool, you can remove the sealant from very small areas on the hands.It is possible to get rid of sealant by means of vegetable oil. It is heated and applied to the skin, then lather with laundry soap and wash well. If all these methods did not help, you can use chemicals.

Today the store has a large selection of tools to successfully remove sealant, but you can use traditional ones: vinegar, gasoline, white spirit, etc. Before you dwell on any of them, you should check how effective it is on a small surface. If the result was positive, you can safely opt for it.

If you want to remove the dried sealant from the tabletop, the masters are advised to find out what products, other than silicone, are in the composition of the sealant. If there are petroleum products in the composition, then you can remove the sealant from the tabletop using purified gasoline. The solvent is applied with a soft cloth for a period of 5 to 30 minutes, then the contamination is removed with a wooden spatula or spatula.

In this way, it is possible to clean the non-dried sealant from the table top. If the glue has already dried, you should immediately cut off the top layer, then apply a solvent.After processing the surface is treated with detergent.

When cleaning acrylic surfaces do not use sharp objects, hard brushes.

To remove sealant from ceramic surfaces, glass or mirrors, you can take a building dryer. It should be heated to a temperature of 350 degrees and direct it to the surface to be treated. The sealant will begin to heat up and flow, with the help of a sponge, the remaining dirt is removed.

If your hand gets dirty while you work, you can remove contamination with polyethylene. Silicone adheres well to plastic wrap. If you wash your hands with water and wipe with plastic wrap, you can easily and quickly remove the silicone from the skin.

Contamination on the fabric can be removed with an iron. A solvent is applied to the surface, paper is put on top and carried over it with a heated iron.

Silicone can be removed from the fabric surface in an unconventional way using cold. Clothing should be put into the bag and placed in the freezer for three or more hours. After such a freezing out, the silicone is easily removed from the fabric surface. You can also remove the sealant from the clothes using hydrogen peroxide.

In order not to spend a lot of time on the removal of stains and dirt, it is better to try to prevent their appearance.

Builders recommend while working:

• wear gloves, wear an apron or other suitable clothing;
• as soon as the sealant has spread over the surface, it should be wiped off with a cloth moistened with vinegar until the silicone is dry;
• To facilitate repair work, you can use masking tape. It is glued to the surface to seal the seams, after work the masking tape should be removed until the silicone has dried;
• builders advise you not to throw away the sealant label in order to make it easier for the store to choose the right solvent.

It is quite difficult to remove silicone sealant from many surfaces. Working with this material, you should prepare working clothes, work in rubber gloves. Masking tape while working with sealant will greatly facilitate the work and eliminate the need to engage in removing glue from the surface.

For information on how to remove sealant from surfaces, see the following video.