I’m one of those who believes in doing routine maintenance on my home on a regular basis. I have certain things I do or have checked out by a professional for every season. I have to admit I’ve been on the lazy side this spring.

One of my spring items is to check the caulk around the house. This includes seals around water areas such as sinks, showers, bathtubs and even doors since rain can come in if areas are not sealed properly. My kitchen sink could definitely use some caulk or Silicone funnel, but I keep thinking it will take care of itself for some reason.

My eyes were opened after talking to a friend about his recent experience. He’s renting a condo and the condo above him has a leak that is now evident on my friend’s ceiling above his bathtub. It’s been a royal pain for my friend. The owner of the condo above him hasn’t been responsive and his landlord lives out of state and doesn’t want to deal with it, either. The smell of mold escalated the problem and he finally got the attention of the condo above him and the landlord. It could be the picture he took of the huge hole in the ceiling that he sent to the landlord that got him to react.

To make a long story short, it turns out that the bathtub/shower in the condo above has old caulk that has allowed water to get below the bathtub/shower which is the ceiling of my friend’s bathroom. The gentleman finally caulked it but the problem persisted. He finally gave in and called a plumber out thinking it might be a leaky pipe. It wasn’t a leaky pipe; it really was just a caulk problem. The reason the problem didn’t stop after it was caulked was because the job was not done the right way. In order to caulk properly it is recommended that the old caulk is dug out and removed before caulking again.

Sometimes it takes a reminder for me to realize I need to be proactive instead of reactive. My kitchen sink had a small gap between the counter and the sink that caused water damage under the sink about two years ago. A piece of the silicone is loose so it’s time to dig it out and reseal it. I finally took care of the potential problem in a total of 30 minutes. I grumbled while doing it, but now that it’s done I don’t have to feel guilty every time I use the sink.

Next up on my to-do list will be checking the showers and bathtubs. If you have multiple floors in your home think about how much damage can be done to the ceiling and the floor below because of a simple caulking issue. It might not be a fun job but it can save a lot of potential grief in the future.