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Does Silicone Caulk Go Bad? (How to Improve Its Shelf Life)

Does Silicone Caulk Go Bad? (How to Improve Its Shelf Life)

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Using silicone caulk to help with various projects around the house is pretty common. You might have some in your home right now because you needed it to help with weatherproofing.

It’s certainly useful to be able to seal various things using silicone caulk. You’ll be able to seal plumbing fixtures such as bathtubs, sinks, and toilets so that you won’t have to worry about leaks.

There’s a good chance that you’ll have some caulk left over after you’ve finished what you need to do, though. Is the silicone caulk going to be fine to use the next time you need it?

Is there an expiration date that you need to be paying attention to? Keep reading to learn more about it and how long you’re supposed to be able to use it.

Silicone Caulk Does Go Bad

Sadly, silicone caulk is not going to be able to stay good forever. If you’ve had a tube of it for a very long time, then there’s a good chance that it’s gone bad already.

Generally, an unopened tube of silicone caulk is going to stay good for one year. You should be able to find some type of expiration date on the tube to let you know when it goes bad.

It’s good to keep an eye on this because you don’t want to try to use the caulk once it has expired. You’ll usually find that the silicone caulk will start to harden once it is more than one year old, and it’ll even harden inside of the tube.

This means that you probably won’t even be able to use it properly if it’s been more than a year since you purchased it. Sometimes it can go bad faster than that as well, but you’ll learn more about that in a bit.

How Long Does Open Silicone Caulk Stay Good?

Now that you know an unopened tube of silicone caulk is supposed to last for a year, it’ll be easier to plan ahead. However, it’s common for people to have some left over when they’ve finished a job.

If you have half of a tube of it remaining after doing something, then you probably want to store the rest to use it later. This is fine, but you must understand that an open silicone caulk tube will go bad faster than an unopened one.

On average, an opened tube of silicone caulk is going to go bad in two months. There are situations where it might go bad faster than this, though.

Ideally, you should try to find a way to use the silicone caulk before it goes bad. If you open a tube of it, you should try to think of ways to use it up to avoid having any of it go to waste.

For example, you could go ahead and apply fresh caulk to the shower or the bathroom sink. It’d be better to use it than to have it go bad and waste half of a tube of caulk.

Store the Silicone Caulk Properly

Storing the caulk properly is going to be imperative if you want it to stay good for as long as possible. Some people make mistakes when storing caulk that will result in it going bad faster.

The first thing to know is that you must store silicone caulk tubes in an upright position. Find a safe spot where you can store the tubes and everything should be fine.

It should be noted that silicone caulk tubes need to be stored somewhere that has a temperature above freezing. Freezing temperatures could cause the caulk to harden prematurely, and this will make it unusable.

Many people simply place silicone caulk tubes underneath sinks or in large cabinets where the tubes can easily be stored upright. Find a good spot in your home where the tubes won’t be bothered.

You also need to know that storing opened tubes of caulk will involve another step. It’s necessary to squeeze approximately one-fourth of an inch of caulk out of the tube and then place a wire into the opening to keep air leakage to a minimum.

Doing this will keep the caulk good for as long as possible. It will still go bad within a couple of months for sure, but it’ll go bad faster than that if you don’t try to minimize air leakage.

What If You Use Expired Silicone Caulk?

What if you tried to use silicone caulk despite the fact that it is past the expiration date? Well, there’s a chance that it might not work at all as mentioned earlier.

The silicone caulking might simply harden in the tube, and this means that you won’t even be able to squeeze it out. However, it’s possible that it could still be bad even when it hasn’t hardened yet.

If you manage to squeeze the caulk out, then you’ll be able to put it where you want it to go. There’s a good chance that it won’t cure properly, though.

This means that the caulk isn’t going to work as intended, and it won’t be good to use as a sealant any longer. Before you try to use it, it’s going to be wise to test a bit of it first.

Squeeze just a bit of the caulk out to see if it cures. If the caulk feels like flexible rubber, then it’s going to be fine to use it for what you need to do.

Final Thoughts

You now know that silicone caulk goes bad after a certain period of time. It’s also going to go bad faster once you’ve opened the tube.

Storing caulk properly is important when you want it to last for as long as possible. This is true whether it has been opened or not.

Use this information so that you can have a good experience with silicone caulk tubes. You should be able to use it up before it expires so long as you’re keeping an eye on things.

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Marion

Tuesday 24th of May 2022

the date on the Mono Acoustical Sealant box, is this when it was made, or is it the expiry date?