If you have a bunch of caulking to do, you could drag the caulk gun and a scrap of cardboard around with you and just wait for the caulk to end up on the carpet, but there’s a better way.
Robert Billard of Duxbury, Mass., finally decided to get serious about cleaning up the mess that he created every time he caulked, so he built a caulk-gun caddy. There’s a 3/4-in. plywood bottom with a 1×4 frame around it. There’s a front vertical piece of plywood that sits at about a 75-degree angle to the bottom. There’s a shorter back piece that’s also at about a 75-dgree angle to the bottom. The critical dimension here is that the front vertical piece needs to be a little bit longer than a caulking gun with a full tube in it, so you want to leave an inch or so of space at the bottom. To make a notch for the handle of the caulking gun, I just used a rasp.
That’s a pretty clever tip, Robert. Thanks for sending it.
Kevin Ireton is editor-at-large and a good friend and former colleague of Chuck Miller’s. Keep your eye out for more Better Way videos from Kevin and several of our other regular contributors in the near future.
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Looks nice. Might be a bit heavy though. I made a similar tool for working out in the field out of a spackle bucket with a few (in case you need more than 1 type or color) 1 x 3's screwed on the inside vertically,opposite each other for balance. I hang my guns by the handle inside the bucket by a notch at the top of each 1 x 3. I've found that hanging it by the handle really doesn't cause any more caulk to come out. A lot of dripless guns don't have a detent to secure the plunger. Hanging it by the plunger rod may cause it to fully extend. Then you'll have to push it back in to start again. Another trick I do is to drop small (1 gal) spackle bucket in the center with a little water and wipe rags. You can also loop a dry rag through the bucket handle and let it hang to the side. As long as you don't set the guns too high when you attach the 1 x 3's it wont be top heavy which means that the assembly will hang on a ladder hook or you can bring up it on the scaffolding. The spackle bucket cleans up very easily and it takes a beating in the truck. Cost = scrap 1x and the bucket. Assembly time = 15 minutes.