There are a lot of new caulks and adhesives available in tubes these days. I’ve found uses for many of them, but I rarely finish a tube on one job. In fact, many tasks need only a little squirt of some high-priced goo. Left-over tubes might just as well be tossed into the trash on the spot because the material in the tip becomes hard and unusable, rendering the rest of the contents inaccessible. A versatile and effective cap would solve the problem — and I had some in my tool box all along.
The solution is wire nuts. I use vinyl-coated red ones, which are normally used on 12-ga. wire, to cap my unspent tubes. I’ve found them effective for up to six months, and they can be constantly reused and easily replaced.
Joe Shepherd, Milwaukie, OR
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #29
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Well spotted, Joe, and thanks!
they dont work
I've been using discarded wine bottle corks with great success for the past 4-5 years. I've found that the synthetic (plastic) ones work slightly better than real cork ones (less porous), and I prepare them like this:
- Drill a ~3/16" hole down the center of the cork, being sure to stop approx. 1/4" short of the end. This will accommodate and seal the last 1/2" or so of the end of the caulk tube tip. Obviously, you don't want to drill all the way through the cork.
- Drill a ~7/16" hole approx. 1/2 way down the center of the cork. This allows for a tight seal around the base of the caulk tube tip.
*Optional:
-For water-soluble caulks, add 3-4 drops of water to the cork before using it to cap off the caulk tube: this additional measure helps prevent the caulk from drying out.
-For other types of caulk, try mineral spirits or a similar solvent to help prevent the caulk from drying out due to any air that may be present.
Using the techniques above, I've been able to reuse tubes of caulk that were easily over a year old.
I've been using a large red wire nut on my caulk tube and for me it keeps the caulk fresh for months. Haven't tried the wine cork approach but I may in the future for the tubes that I cut back farther or have larger tips where the wire nut does have enough to tighten down on.