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I took down a shampoo dispenser and now I have several big blobs of moldy silicone caulk on the shower wall. I bought a plastic razor scraper and a bottle of Goo Gone Caulk Remover, which gets high marks for removing silicone on Amazon, but I haven't even made a dent. I think part of the problem is that the wall is vertical (duh :) and the remover is liquid, so it doesn't stay on the caulk long enough to do the job. Is there a gel formula out there that works well, or some other technique that would work better?

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If you saturate toilet paper with the remover and slap it on your vertical surface it will stick there and hold it against the caulking. Practice a couple times with water to get a feel for the appropriate amount of moisture. Scrape off as much as possible before you start in with the remover though. Just to clarify, you should be using a plastic blade in the scraper so you don't damage or leave marks on the wall.

EDIT: BTW, you can also use acetone (i.e. nail polish remover) to remove silicone caulking. Acetone attacks some plastics, so I'd only go this route on tile.

EDIT 2: If neither of those options work, you can also go to an auto supply store and pick up an adhesive eraser wheel. You use these with an electric drill and they are designed to take adhesives off of auto bodies without damaging the paint. Again, this might not be the best thing to use on a plastic surround.

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  • It is plastic, unfortunately, so I'll try the toilet paper idea. I do have a plastic blade; unfortunately it doesn't do a very good job of removing much of anything. I'm hoping to be able to soften the slab of caulk enough to make it scrapeable. Thanks for the tips, I will give it a try!
    – janineanne
    Apr 7, 2014 at 6:10
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I had the same situation. Old shower dispenser had been attached with silicone. After pulling it off, the silicone was completely intact on the shower wall. Shower is an acrylic shower stall fitted into the wall around the tub. I found a bread knife in the knife drawer, about 10" long, non-serrated (not the sharpest knife in the drawer). Holding both ends of that knife, sharp side down, thumbs providing a little bend in the middle, I found that I could slice that silicone almost down to the wall. A few precise, surgical passes, scraping the wall a little bit with no damage, and it was gone in no time.

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They called this the duct tape of caulking for a reason. I have been trying everything I have googled stating that it would work to no avail to remove this caulking from the floor of a trailer so that I can paint in a new floor. And don't we all hate it when our parents are always right?

I grew up with my father telling me carburetor cleaner cleans everything including sap from your hands. Lo and behold it works with minimal scrubbing for both the caulking and the liquid nails!

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  • Welcome to Home Improvement! Thanks for the answer; keep 'em coming!
    – Daniel Griscom
    Apr 27, 2019 at 1:07
  • Wowza - makes you wonder what's in it, doesn't it? I eventually got the caulk off with goo gone (I think it was) and a plastic scraper, but it was a lot of work. Thanks for the answer!
    – janineanne
    Apr 27, 2019 at 4:38
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The easiest way that I found to remove silicone caulking from tile was high acetone nail polish remover with a magic eraser. It does take time, but there is a lot less elbow grease.

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a name brand "skrapr" works great.They are safe for glass top stoves and all kinds of surfaces which you have to scrape but don't want scratches.

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