Caulking & Sealing Services
Caulking and sealing is the residential trade that strips failed bead at every joint where two materials meet, applies the correct sealant chemistry for the exposure, and tools a clean line that lasts — covering bath, kitchen, windows, doors, trim, and exterior penetrations from $180 per area. The black line of mildew at the tub edge, the cracked white bead along a window casing, the gap behind the kitchen faucet where water pools every morning, the trim seam the painter promised would be caulked before the topcoat. Handis strips the failed old bead all the way back to clean substrate, picks the right chemistry for the joint, tools a clean line, and gives every wet bead the cure time it actually needs — most caulking work starts at $180 and runs $400 to $550 for whole-home or full-shower jobs.
Services
What Does Caulking & Sealing Include?
Caulking and sealing covers six residential service families — bathroom re-caulking, kitchen re-caulking, window and door caulking, full tub or shower re-seal, baseboard and trim caulking, and exterior gap sealing with pest exclusion — each with its own pricing, sealant chemistry, and cure rules, all starting at $180 per area. The core skill is one — strip the old bead all the way to a clean, dry substrate, then lay a fresh bead in the right chemistry for the joint. 100% silicone goes everywhere it gets wet (bath, shower, kitchen sink, exterior weather seal). Siliconized acrylic (paintable latex with silicone added for flexibility) goes everywhere it gets painted (interior trim, baseboards, window casings indoors). Standard latex caulk is what most DIYers reach for and what fails inside a year in any wet location — we do not use it in bath, shower, or kitchen.
Bathroom Re-Caulking
Tub-to-tile, tub-to-wall, shower corners, vanity-to-wall, toilet base. The dark mildew line along the tub edge, the gap that opened up behind the soap niche, the bead that pulled away from the alcove when the tub settled. Old bead stripped completely (the residue is the #1 reason a fresh bead pulls), surface dried, 100% mildew-resistant silicone applied. Cure 24 to 48 hours before water. From $180.
Bathroom Re-Caulking — tub, shower, vanity, toilet base
Kitchen Re-Caulking
Countertop-to-backsplash, sink-to-countertop, range-to-counter, dishwasher trim. The seam behind the faucet where every spill pools, the gap along the under-mount sink edge that grows mildew, the rim of the slide-in range. Mildew-resistant silicone in colors that match common counter materials (white, almond, clear, bronze). From $180.
Kitchen Re-Caulking — counter, backsplash, sink, range, dishwasher trim
Window & Door Caulking
Exterior perimeter caulk that cracked through one winter freeze-thaw cycle. Interior trim gaps where the casing pulled away from the drywall. Threshold gaps under exterior doors. Exterior gets a paintable polyurethane or hybrid sealant rated for movement and UV; interior gets siliconized acrylic that takes paint. From $180.
Window & Door Caulking — exterior weather seal, interior trim, thresholds
Tub & Shower Re-Seal
Full re-seal when the whole alcove or shower surround has failed — every horizontal and vertical joint stripped, mildew on the substrate killed and dried, fresh bead on every seam, and a final water test before we leave. The reset a wet zone needs after seven to ten years. From $200.
Tub & Shower Re-Seal — full re-seal, mildew remediation prep
Baseboard & Trim Caulking
The gap between baseboard and drywall, the corner where two pieces of crown molding never quite met, the settling crack above a doorway. Paint-ready siliconized acrylic that fills, flexes with seasonal movement, and takes a topcoat without peeling at the joint. The step most painters skip and the one that decides whether the trim line reads as 'finished' or 'patched.' From $180.
Baseboard & Trim Caulking — paint-ready trim gaps, settling cracks
Exterior Gap Sealing & Pest Exclusion
The penetrations no one looks at — the dryer-vent perimeter, the cable and electrical service entries, the hose-bib gaskets, the foundation-to-siding band joist, the soffit gaps where mice and yellow jackets get in. Exterior-rated polyurethane sealant where there is paint, copper-mesh-and-sealant combos at rodent-rated penetrations, expanding foam-and-caulk sandwiches at larger gaps. From $180.
Exterior Gap Sealing & Pest Exclusion — penetrations, utility entries, rodent exclusion
Caulking & Sealing Pricing
Final pricing depends on linear footage, how aggressive the old-bead removal needs to be, and whether mildew on the substrate has to be killed and dried before fresh sealant goes on. Each sub-category page lists detailed pricing for that family of work. Multi-room or multi-area visits are cheaper per area than booking each one separately. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Send us the rooms, the seams, and any visible mildew — we will quote the whole visit.
Why Homeowners Book Handis for Caulking
Most caulking failures trace back to the same three shortcuts. New bead applied over old residue (the bond fails inside two months — silicone will not stick to silicone). Latex caulk used in a wet area (turns black with mildew, then shrinks and cracks within a year). A bead tooled wet with a finger and dish soap that left a hairline crack down the centerline a day later. After a few thousand caulking jobs across Seattle drywall, tile, plaster, painted trim, fiber cement, and brick, every one of those failures has a fix in the truck — and the work that takes 90 minutes done right beats the same work done twice in eighteen months.
Old bead stripped to clean substrate, every time
Silicone will not bond to silicone — that is the chemistry. A fresh bead laid over old residue separates inside two months, the gap reopens, water goes through, and we are back. We strip every joint with a utility blade plus a silicone-specific solvent, wipe with denatured alcohol, dry the substrate, then lay the new bead. The prep takes longer than the application; that is the work.
Right chemistry for the joint
100% mildew-resistant silicone (GE Supreme Kitchen & Bath, DAP Kwik Seal Ultra) anywhere it gets wet — tub, shower, kitchen sink, exterior weather seal. Siliconized acrylic (DAP Alex Plus, Sherwin-Williams Painters Caulk) anywhere it gets painted — interior trim, baseboards, casings. Polyurethane (Sika, Loctite PL) for exterior weather joints that need movement and UV resistance. Standard latex stays on the truck for nothing — it fails in every wet location and there is a better paintable option for every dry one.
Cure time we actually wait for
100% silicone cures 24 to 48 hours before water exposure. Siliconized acrylic accepts paint in 30 to 60 minutes but does not reach full cure for 24 hours. Polyurethane needs 24 to 72 hours depending on temperature. We tell you on the booking call how long the shower, sink, or trim has to stay dry or unpainted, and we leave a printed note on the bathroom door if anyone in the house could mess up the cure by accident.
Mildew remediation prep before the fresh bead
A black line of mildew on the substrate under a failed bead does not disappear when you cover it with new silicone — it grows through. We treat the surface with a quaternary ammonium cleaner (the same chemistry hospitals use for hard-surface disinfection), let it sit the full dwell time, rinse, and dry completely before the new bead goes down. If the substrate itself is rotting (soft drywall, swollen MDF, delaminated tile backer), we tell you on arrival and route the repair to drywall or tile work first.
Insured, background-checked, 30-day workmanship guarantee
Every Handis caulking tech carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening before the first job. If a bead pulls, cracks, separates from the substrate, or molds within 30 days because of our workmanship or prep, we come back and redo it at no extra charge. The guarantee covers our installation — it does not cover damage from a leak behind the wall, a tile that came loose later, or scrubbing the bead with an abrasive pad. We will tell you on arrival if we see something that looks like a future problem.
Estimate
List the rooms, the seams (tub edge, sink perimeter, window count, trim linear feet), any visible mildew or substrate damage, and we will send back a clear estimate for the full visit.
What Our Customers Say
Recent caulking and sealing reviews from verified customers.
Whole-house caulking before we listed the place. Master bath tub, hall bath tub, kitchen counter and sink, every exterior window, and the front-door threshold. Tech stripped every old bead — said the new stuff would not stick to the old residue, and he was right because we had tried the kitchen ourselves a year ago and it had already pulled. Three rooms, one visit, photographs ready for the listing the next morning.
1989 master bath, the bead around the tub had gone black and was lifting at the corners. The tech treated the visible mildew with a real disinfectant (not just bleach), waited the full dwell time, dried the substrate with a heat gun, then ran the new bead. Looked like a different bathroom by the time he left. No mildew six months in.
Kitchen remodel finish work the original tile guy never came back to do. Counter-to-backsplash, sink perimeter, the gap behind the slide-in range. The tech matched the silicone color to our quartz (almond) instead of using straight white that would have stood out. Two hours, clean lines, almost invisible.
Exterior caulking on a 1948 brick rambler. Window perimeters had cracked through last winter and we had drafts in every bedroom. The tech worked off a ladder, ran fresh polyurethane (not latex) on every window and the front-door casing, and pointed out two siding gaps where mice were probably getting in. Mouse droppings stopped that week.
Pre-paint trim caulking on the whole first floor. Baseboards, door casings, two crown joints that had opened up over the winter. The tech filled, smoothed, and feathered every seam, told us we could paint in an hour. The painters showed up the next morning, said the prep was the cleanest they had seen on a job that was not theirs. Trim line came out flawless.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about caulking and sealing — pricing, scope, materials, cure time, and what to expect.