Caulking around exterior of basement windows

I recently put in new basement windows, and all that's left is to caulk around the exterior edges. I got what I think is a decent product for the purpose (Sikaflex 1a), but have no prior experience with it. It's very gloopy and hard to work with. I did one window using a profiling tool, and it turned out sort of sloppy. The caulk tended to string out from the tip of the gun like melted cheese, which made the whole job messier. I masked off the window and the sides of the opening, which made things somewhat cleaner, but I still found it unsatisfying. I have a bunch of experience with caulking interior stuff/trim and can easily make that look good with a bead and my finger. I'm tempted to use something like Big Stretch on these basement windows, but I'm skeptical that it'd hold up outside. Any tips and tricks to pull this off so it doesn't look like a total hack job? submitted by /u/batardo [link] [comments]

Jun 9, 2025 - 04:48

I recently put in new basement windows, and all that's left is to caulk around the exterior edges. I got what I think is a decent product for the purpose (Sikaflex 1a), but have no prior experience with it. It's very gloopy and hard to work with. I did one window using a profiling tool, and it turned out sort of sloppy. The caulk tended to string out from the tip of the gun like melted cheese, which made the whole job messier. I masked off the window and the sides of the opening, which made things somewhat cleaner, but I still found it unsatisfying.

I have a bunch of experience with caulking interior stuff/trim and can easily make that look good with a bead and my finger. I'm tempted to use something like Big Stretch on these basement windows, but I'm skeptical that it'd hold up outside.

Any tips and tricks to pull this off so it doesn't look like a total hack job?

submitted by /u/batardo
[link] [comments]