How to best remove old silicone around toilet base?

Hi,

I probably should have asked before attempting this one myself, but basically I wanted to remove the really old silicone around the base of the toilet (between toilet and tile floor). Id like to re caulk this and replace the seat/cistern after.

I had a go at it with a knife and metal scraper and did a really poor job with it, and worried I mightve scratched either the toilet or the tile floor itself.

So now I'll ask, what is the best way to go about this? I tried with some methylated spirits but didn't seem to go that well. Here is the current state of it:

Thanks!

Find more posts tagged with

Renovation

Cleaning

Accepted answers

JoeAzza

Hi @barydos I have removed old silicone the same way, using a scraper blade to remove as much of the old silicone as much as possible, then use a scouring pad with mentholated spirit to remove and clean the surface.

Scouring pads below.

All comments

Jason

Hi @barydos,

Thanks for your patience. Our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. expert @EricL will be back on the site this afternoon and I'm sure will be happy to share some advice with you.

Let me also tag helpful members in @TedBear, @Remarka6le and @JoeAzza to see how they might tackle this one.

Jason

JoeAzza

Scouring pads below.

EricL

Hi @barydos

If there are tough portions of the silicone around the toilet base and tile floor, I suggest using Selleys 375g Silicone Remover in combination with a Craftright 5-in-1 Scraper.

It's important to give the silicone remover enough time to dissolve and soften the old silicone before attempting to remove it with the scraper.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

barydos

Thanks everyone!

I did a combination of both of your suggestions and it did the trick, but still required some good hard effort to get the job done.

I'm pretty bad at caulking but hey at least it's better than the gross mess it was before!

Thanks again 🙂

MitchellMc

It looks like a decent job to me, @barydos! A whole heap better than the previous job.

Well done, and many thanks for sharing your results with us. I'm sure they give our members the confidence they need to give this a crack themselves.

Mitchell

Child Item