A Relaxing Sunday in Atlanta... Replacing my Patio Door Sealant

This morning I was out relaxing in my patio as I usually do on a Sunday morning when I noticed a cold draft coming from the sliding patio door.

As it was a chilly morning, I went to the door to make sure that it was properly closed and upons closer inspection, I noticed that the sealant in my patio door was starting to crack and was frayed in some places.

Jumping up and down with joy, I knew I would get to take my tool box out and start fixing it up.  Just so you know, I don't always relish doing these home maintenance but sometimes, it's best to take are of these small jobs as fast as possible.  In this case, having a draft in your house does raise my monthly electricity bill and the Atlanta Power company is not know for being cheap.

As a professional non-practicing home improvement contractor, I usually have a lot of  supply handy which includes a caulk gun and a tube of silliconized acrylic caulk.  This caulk is a pretty much an all purpose caulk that is flexible yet water resistant and is usually good enough for tiles and windows and will last up to 25 years.

So the first step was to remove the old caulk from the window which is fairly simple as I just use a dry wall spatula to scrap it off and then used a brush to get rid of all of the debris.  One that is done, you simply give it a good swipe with a wet cloth and dry it.

Once you all is dry you just need to apply the caulk.  The best method is to fist just stick the nozzle into the gape between the window and the frame and smoothly apply the caulk throught the length of the window. 

Once that is done, just dip your finger in water and smooth it out and voila!