How to Remove Silicone Caulk from Your Hands

How to Remove Silicone Caulk from Your Hands

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Silicone caulk is a great thing to use to seal tiles, bathtubs, and so much more. With that being said, silicone caulking can be a bit messy to use. If you are inexperienced, chances are that you are going to get this stuff everywhere, particularly on your hands. Whether it is wet or dry, it’s not something you should leave on your hands, and you should remove it.

Therefore, how to remove silicone caulk from your hands is exactly what we are going to teach you today.

Is It Bad to Get Silicone Caulk on Your Hands?

Silicone caulk is definitely not the best thing to get on your hands. Now, it is most toxic if you inhale a large amount of the fumes or swallow the silicone caulk. However, it can also have slightly toxic effects on the body if it is absorbed through the skin, particularly in large quantities of it.

If your body absorbs too much silicone caulk through your skin, it could cause nausea, dizziness, and an upset stomach. That said, these effects are fairly rare. However, what will happen is that it can tear your skin and dry it out. Silicone caulk will dry on your hands, and the longer it stays on your hands, the stronger the bond between it and your skin will be.

Not only does this mean that, if silicone caulk dries completely, you will have to rip it off, but it will also dry your skin out to the point where it can become very brittle and cracked. Although it is possible to remove dried silicone caulk from your hands, it is much better to remove it while it is still wet, before it has gotten a chance to bond with your skin completely.

How Can You Prevent Silicone Caulk from Getting on Your Hands?

If you work smart, you won’t even have to deal with the issue of silicone caulk getting on your hands. First and foremost, if you’re really worried about getting this stuff on your hands, a good idea is to simply wear some work gloves. You could wear some normal work gloves, or you could also wear some basic silicone gloves. If your hands are covered, then it obviously won’t be able to get on your skin.

Moreover, if you have a bit of experience working with silicone, then you should be able to do a clean enough job to prevent it from making a huge mess. For instance, if you need to use your finger to smooth out a bead of caulk, apply some denatured alcohol to the caulk bead, and then use your finger to smooth it out.

The addition of alcohol to the top of the caulk should prevent it from sticking to your fingers. You can also just get your skin wet with some water before you touch the silicone, but it doesn’t work quite as well as the alcohol. Of course, the better the application job in the first place, the less you will have to smooth the bead out, and therefore the less caulk you will get on your hands.

How to Remove Wet Silicone Caulk From Your Hands

If the silicone caulk is still wet (here’s how long it generally takes to dry), then you are in luck, as it hasn’t gotten a chance to fully bond with your skin. That being said, this substance is still very thick, and it will begin to adhere to your skin even if it is still wet. Therefore, it is of course recommended that you remove silicone caulk from your skin before it dries and gets a chance to bond with your skin.

Thankfully, there are many different substances out there that will thin out silicone caulk, dissolve it, and therefore remove it from your skin. Some of the best and most affordable substances that you can use include vinegar, very high-grade rubbing alcohol, and even WD40.  Other substances that will work to dissolve and remove wet silicone from your skin include mineral oil, powdered laundry detergent, and nail polish remover.

Once you have chosen your wet silicone caulk remover of choice, apply it extremely liberally to the affected area. You can soak a wet paper towel in something like vinegar or rubbing alcohol, and then gently rub it across your skin to remove the wet silicone caulk from your hands. If the paper towel or towel you are using is soaked in the vinegar, rubbing alcohol, or other substance of your choice, it should be more than enough to remove that wet silicone.

How to Remove Dry Silicone Caulk From Your Hands

If the silicone caulk is already dry and bonded with your skin, then you do have some issues. Now, some people are going to use brute force here and simply rip it right off of the skin. However, this is obviously not recommended. If you rip the silicone caulk off of your skin, your skin is going to go with it, and yes, it is going to hurt a lot. Ripping off a large quantity of skin can be extremely dangerous and even lead to other serious issues.

Therefore, if you have silicone caulk that has completely dried on your skin, you want to soften it up and loosen the bond before you try to pull it off. The best substance to do this is either an adhesive solvent or something much simpler such as rubbing alcohol or mineral spirits. That said, one of the best substances to use for this purpose is acetone, otherwise known as nail polish remover.

Using your nail polish remover, you want to soak the affected area for at least one minute. Remember, because the silicone caulk is already dried and bonded with your skin, it’s going to take a bit of time for that bond to loosen.

Therefore, either just dunk your hands in a small container of nail polish remover or soak a paper towel with a liberal quantity of nail polish remover and keep dabbing it on the affected area until you can feel the bond loosen. Once the silicone caulk has been soaked and softened enough, you should be able to just gently pull it off your skin.

Mistakes to Avoid, Tips & Tricks

Let’s quickly go over some tips and tricks to help make this process a little easier and faster for you:

  • Never touch dry skin to silicone caulk when it is still wet, as it will adhere
  • Coating your hands in a layer of liquid, whether water or rubbing alcohol, before trying to smooth out a bead of wet caulk is recommended
  • Always wear eye protection when working with silicone caulking, as this is not something that you want to get in your eyes

Summary

While silicone caulk is not the worst thing to get on your hands, it will dry and bond. Therefore, it is recommended that you remove it while it is still wet.