Choosing a Caulk or Adhesive Gun: Models, Types, Advice
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Description of types of caulk or adhesive dispensing guns
Trigger type manual caulk guns, durability, features, quality
Battery operated power caulk guns
Compressed air operated power caulk gun choices
Caulks & sealants on buildings: joint design, silicones, polyurethane caulk, butyl caulk, acrylic latex caulk
Questions & answers about types of caulk or adhesive or sealant guns or applicators - manual or powered caulk guns

Choices of caulking guns - a buyer's guide: this article describes different types of caulk guns, caulk gun features, and caulk gun models, giving some opinion and advice about choosing a caulk gun that fits your needs.

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Choosing a Caulking Gun for Easy Fast Caulking Work & Good Results

This article series discusses best practices construction details for building exteriors, including water and air barriers, building flashing products & installation, wood siding material choices & installation, vinyl siding, stucco exteriors, building trim, exterior caulks and sealants, exterior building adhesives, and choices and application of exterior finishes on buildings: paints, stains.

Readers should see CAULKS & SEALANTS, EXTERIOR and also see GLUES ADHESIVES, EXTERIOR CONSTRUCTION. Some caulks and sealants also act as glues or adhesives.

There is a stunning, actually an overwhelming array of types and qualities of caulk guns available.

3M, Albion, Apex-Cooper Hand Tools, GE, Newborn, Rigid, Z-Pro, and other companies produce or distribute hundreds of caulk guns and other items of caulking equipment. Contact information for these companies is listed at Resources for Building Exterior Caulks and Sealants. Here are some observations and opinions from DJF who, like many, has spent a lot of caulking time on construction projects:

Stamped-steel caulk guns (first caulk gun at left in the group of four below) Watch out Most caulk gun producers offer durable heavy duty and good performing caulk guns, but for the "quick and dirty one-off job" also offer homeowner-grade caulk guns made of stamped metal that we find, at least in some cases, do not last long. We call these "disposable" caulk guns.

With the least-costly grades of these caulk guns we find that very quickly the gun goes in the trash after a strong squeeze has bent the trigger handle, or the plunger mechanism keeps slipping rather than forcing caulk out of the cartridge or tube.
Manual caulk guns, heavy duty models for homeowner and moderate construction use (second from left below): we much prefer the caulk cartridge type caulk gun shown in our photograph (above left and below, second from left)). This type of caulking gun has a strong steel body, cast iron handle, and a plunger mechanism that does not slip when pushing against a recalcitrant tube of caulk.

Like many models this caulk gun includes a wire to open the foil seal found in the tops of some caulk tubes and of course a cutter to snip off the caulk tube tip. The hooked caulk pushrod end forms a convenient ladder hook for the tool. Newborn produces a heavy duty professional NBC250 caulk gun of this type. A lighter version with an open cartridge body (third from left below) also performed acceptably but not as well as our preferred caulk gun.

Bulk caulk guns, cartridge and sausage caulk guns are fast, and are designed to accept caulk bought in bulk, often in a collapsible plastic wrap or "sausage" (above right).
Air powered caulk guns can pump very viscous caulks or adhesives at high speed and in large volumes. Models accept both cartridges and bulk or sausage packs of caulk. Our friend Mike Skok (Re Bath) uses a battery-operated air-powered caulk gun to dispense adhesive when installing plastic bath surrounds. Apex-Cooper Hand Tools' PG 100 Caulk Master (below at far right) is a professional-grade air-powered caulk and adhesive gun that is driven by an air compressor.
Cordless Battery-powered caulk guns are really fast and low-effort, and with some practice, you can make very smooth caulk applications by learning to keep the caulk gun tip moving. Rigid makes an 18-volt cordless gun used for both caulks and adhesives and shown below, second from right.

Above left: caulk gun with extension rod for reaching. Second from left, 3-M caulk gun. Third from left, Rigid's batter operated power caulk gun. Above right, Apex-Cooper's air powered caulk gun.

Definitions of Caulking, Chalking, Spackling

Question: What's the Difference between caulking, chalking, and spackling?

I would like to know the difference between spackling and chalking and caulking and where each should be used. - A.C.

Reply:

Definition of Spackling: Spackling refers to use of joint compound to seal tape joints between sections of drywall or to smooth other irregularities in drywall before the wall or ceiling is painted. Spackling is also used on occasion as a superficial repair on plaster although repairing plaster with actual plaster may be preferred.

See Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall for help in identifying these materials and a bit about their history. Also see

Watch out: don't rely on joint compound or spackling compound to seal building leaks where temperature changes, vibration, or anything else will cause movement of the building materials. Unlike flexible caulks that are designed to adhere to various types of surfaces and to tolerate small amounts of movement between the sealed surfaces, joint compound or spackling compound is designed for cosmetic repairs only, and it is likely to crack if installed where a flexible caulk should have been used indoors, and to weather and fail if used on an outdoor surface.

Definition of caulking: Caulks are sealants used to close gaps or cracks against leaks. The leak may be an air leak or a water leak in a building, or historically, in other structures such as a boat where in addition to hull leaks a boat often leaked at the connection of hull to boat deck. Caulk types and uses are discussed in more detail at CAULKS & SEALANTS, EXTERIOR. Types of caulk guns used to apply caulk are discussed above at CAULK GUN TYPES, CHOICES.

Before modern silicon, latex, or polyurethane caulks were invented boat leaks were sealed by hammering oakum, hemp or even cotton into the open gaps using a loggerhead.

Watch out: while it is often convenient to use caulk for cosmetic sealing of gaps and cracks indoors, such as along baseboard trim installed along uneven wall surfaces, be sure to use paintable caulk if the surfaces are intended to be painted. For example, some silicone caulks that perform very well as sealants also form a surface to which paint will not adhere.

Definition of chalking: Chalking is usually used to refer to the white oxidization that appears on some painted surfaces as they wear or weather, it's not something you'd do to drywall or plaster. Paint chalking is discussed at PAINT FAILURE DICTIONARY and at PAINT FALURE, DIAGNOSIS, CURE, PREVENTION.

Chalking is sometimes used in some parts of the world to refer to steps to make surface more "white", and it is also used to refer to plowing chalk into soil as part of applying manure - a step that has nothing to do with building maintenance.

If you live in a country where any of these words are used with a different meaning please CONTACT us to let us know about it.

Resources for Building Exterior Caulks and Sealants

Construction Sealant (Caulks) Suppliers & Products

Albion, 1250 North Church Street, Moorestown, New Jersey 08057-1102 http://www.albioneng.com/, 856-235-6688

Chemrex www.chemrex.com

Newborn caulking guns, distributed by Jamestown JD Distributors - http://www.jamestowndistributors.com

Polyurethanes and other high-performance sealants

3M - 800-234-8068

Bostik - Chem-Calk urethane caulk - 414-774-2250

DAP www.dap.com - 800-543-3840

Tremco - Velcum urethane caulk - 800-321-7906

Macklanburg-Duncan - Sika and Sikaflex caulks - 800-654-8454 (widely used in sealing concrete wall and floor slab cracks in the radon mitigation industry)

OSI Sealants

These sompanies produce urethane caulks used widely on masonry surfaces and in the automotive industry.

Acrylic latex caulks

Dow Corning Sealants www.dowcorningsealants.com

Silicone sealants

GE Silicones www.gesilicones.com Silicone sealant

Geocel Corp www.geocelusa.com Acrylic latex, tripolymer, copolymer, Kraton, and clear sealants

Macklanburg-Duncan www.mdteam.com Acrylic latex sealants

OSI Sealants Inc www.osisealants.com Polyseamseal PVA-based caulk. Pro Series includes latex, polyurethane, and Kraton sealants.

www.phenoseal.com Phenoseal vinyl adhesive caulk

Red Devil www.reddevil.com Acrylic, silicone, and butyl sealants

Sashco Sealants www.sashco.com Big Stretch and Mor-Flexx water-based sealants, Lexel Kraton sealant

Sika Corp www.sikaconstruction.com Complete line of Sikaflex polyurethane-based sealants, butyl sealant

Tremco Inc. www.tremcosealants.com High-performance, architectural-grade sealants,

UGL www.ugl.com Acrylic latex caulks

White Lightning www.wlcaulk.com Tripolymer, butyl, polyurethane, silicone, elastomeric, and other high-performance sealants

Exterior Adhesives

Abatron www.abatron.com Epoxy, BestBond polyurethane glue

Ambel www.excelglue.com Excel polyurethane glue

Elmer’s Products www.elmers.com Yellow glues, ProBond polyurethane glue

Custom-Pak Adhesives www.custompak.com Resorcinol and yellow glues

DAP Inc. www.dap.com Weldwood contact cement, resorcinol, and construction adhesives Resources 49

Franklin International www.titebond.com Titebond yellow glue, Liquid Hide Glue, and construction adhesives

Gloucester Co. Inc. www.phenoseal.com Phenoseal adhesive caulk

Gougeon Brothers www.westsystem.com West System epoxy

Gorilla Group www.gorillaglue.com Gorilla polyurethane glue

MACCO Adhesives www.liquidnails.com Liquid Nails construction adhesive

SI Sealants www.osisealants.com PL400 construction adhesive

System Three Resins www.systemthree.com Quick Cure epoxy

-- Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction.

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Steven Bliss served as editorial director and co-publisher of The Journal of Light Construction for 16 years and previously as building technology editor for Progressive Builder and Solar Age magazines. He worked in the building trades as a carpenter and design/build contractor for more than ten years and holds a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Excerpts from his recent book, Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, Wiley (November 18, 2005) ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, appear throughout this website, with permission and courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Best Practices Guide is available from the publisher, J. Wiley & Sons, and also at Amazon.com.
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CAULK GUN TYPES, CHOICES

CAULKS & SEALANTS, EXTERIOR

Steven Bliss served as editorial director and co-publisher of The Journal of Light Construction for 16 years and previously as building technology editor for Progressive Builder and Solar Age magazines. He worked in the building trades as a carpenter and design/build contractor for more than ten years and holds a masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Excerpts from his recent book, Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, Wiley (November 18, 2005) ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, appear throughout this website, with permission and courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Best Practices Guide is available from the publisher, J. Wiley & Sons, and also at Amazon.com.
Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, Hardcover: 320 pages, available from Amazon.com and also Wiley.com. See our book review of this publication.
Carson, Dunlop & Associates Ltd., 120 Carlton Street Suite 407, Toronto ON M5A 4K2. (416) 964-9415 1-800-268-7070 info@carsondunlop.com. Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education including the ASHI-adopted Home Inspection Training Program (home study course), publications such as the Home Reference Book, report writing materials including the Horizon report writer, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Paul Galow - technical consultant on networking, LAN design, applications support. Galow Consulting Services, 914-204-1749, email: paulgalow@galowconsulting.com
John Rudy, Advantage Home Inspections, Flemington N.J. 08822 home inspector, 908-806- 6364, Home, Radon & Termite Inspections, Central & Parts of North New Jersey, email: jonadvantage1@yahoo.com
Malco® Products siding tools are available from that company, including the SideSwiper II SRT2 discussed at Malco's website. Websearch 09/07/2010 http://malcoproducts.com/product/roofing-siding-gutter/siding-vinyl/siding-tools-vinyl/sideswiper-ii. Malco also produces other vinyl siding repair tools such as aprons, awls, hole punches, saw blades, and tools for for fiber cement products including power-assisted cutters
Parmetol, a wood preservative recommended by the manufacturer was used as a fungicidal additive to paint on the Blue Poplar wood sculpture in Amsterdam, by artist Mari Shields [ - art conservation consult DJF-artist MS 2010]
"Weather-Resistive Barriers [copy on file as /interiors/Weather_Resistant_Barriers_DOE.pdf ] - ", how to select and install housewrap and other types of weather resistive barriers, U.S. DOE

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

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Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. ISBN-10: 0471648361, ISBN-13: 978-0471648369, Hardcover: 320 pages, available from Amazon.com and also Wiley.com. See our book review of this publication.
Decks and Porches, the JLC Guide to, Best Practices for Outdoor Spaces, Steve Bliss (Editor), The Journal of Light Construction, Williston VT, 2010 ISBN 10: 1-928580-42-4, ISBN 13: 978-1-928580-42-3, available from Amazon.com
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Choosing a Caulking Gun for Easy Fast Caulking Work & Good Results

Definitions of Caulking, Chalking, Spackling

Question: What's the Difference between caulking, chalking, and spackling?

Reply:

Resources for Building Exterior Caulks and Sealants

Construction Sealant (Caulks) Suppliers & Products

Polyurethanes and other high-performance sealants

Acrylic latex caulks

Exterior Adhesives

Questions & Answers regarding this article

Ask a Question or Search InspectAPedia

Technical Reviewers & References

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair