Silicone/caulk wet areas?

[paqman]

I just finished laying vinyl planks in my entire upper floor (about 950 Sq feet). I'm about to put down baseboards, and some quarter round in places. My kitchen cabinets will all have quarter round at the bottom of them. I have at least a 1/4" expansion gap everywhere.

My question is for the wet areas. We are paranoid about water or other liquids getting under the floating floor. Milk or juice spills onto the floor next to the island? You've got nastiness molding under there forever. The bathroom is obvious. I will lay silicone caulk up to the bathtub. But I'm paranoid about the whole bathroom and kitchen. With the need for the floor to be able to expand, what does everyone do around wet areas? I really want to not only caulk against the bathtub, but all the baseboards in the bathroom, and around the kitchen island and countertops. Will this cause problems with expansion?

If so, what do folks do when the inevitable spill happens near the edge of a counter or something? I can't stand the thought of some liquid sitting under our floor forever.

Edit: to be clear about the tub, as for now, I was actually planning on using a product that is like quarter round but has a peice of weather stripping along the bottom. But I'm all ears for what you all have done against the tub.

 

[highup]

It's hard to give advice on how much you can, "lock in" with silicone unless you have a T joint in the doorway, isolating it from larger areas.
If you plan on using silicone and this tool will be your best friend.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Devil-42...ocphy=1014221&hvtargid=pla-315922223228&psc=1Tho its kind of a pain to do so, under toekicks and everywhere else around the perimeter of the room to be caulked, I'll put a minimum of a 1-in strip of blue masking tape exactly on the edge of your flooring....... I mean exactly to the edge.
Press it down hard on the address of a silicone doesn't leak underneath, then be sure to cut a fairly wide opening in the caulking tube and make it a wide opening and make it at a steep angle so it allows you to pump silicone downwards rather than straight out the end.
Now, fill that gap totally full. For the next step you want to have lots of paper towels on hand and a place to put them, a bucket a box or some safe place so you don't spread the mess around.
That Gap around the perimeter, now fully filled with silicone needs to be smoothed flat.
That bent edge putty knife is perfect for that, especially under toe kicks.
Using that putty knife smooth or scrape out the excess silicone so that the gap is left fully filled.
Whenever you get too much silicone on your putty knife and wipe it into a paper towel and put the paper towel into a bag bucket box or whatever. It's messy so just put it in a safe place. Continue on around the room and then start pulling off the pieces of masking tape. That can be very messy too, so you got to move slow and careful pulling the tape off the floor so none of it falls back on the floor creating a mess.
Did I mention this can be messy if you're not careful. Move slow and methodically and you'll be fine.

 

[paqman]

It's hard to give advice on how much you can, "lock in" with silicone unless you have a T joint in the doorway, isolating it from larger areas.
If you plan on using silicone and this tool will be your best friend.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Devil-42...ocphy=1014221&hvtargid=pla-315922223228&psc=1

Yeah I mean we haven't put a T-mold to that bathroom, but could if we needed to I guess. The vinyl plank is SPC so expansion should be minimal, but still. The larger question remains, what about the kitchen and other areas?

And sorry, but I'm not sure what you're getting at with the bent putty knife?

 

[highup]

It's hard to tell without seeing the shape and dimensions of the room what we're talking about. If you had a layout drawn up, that would help.

 

[highup]

Yeah I mean we haven't put a T-mold to that bathroom, but could if we needed to I guess. The vinyl plank is SPC so expansion should be minimal, but still. The larger question remains, what about the kitchen and other areas?

And sorry, but I'm not sure what you're getting at with the bent putty knife?

Underneath the toe kick with a straight putty knife, it's more difficult to smooth out the silicone.
With that bent putty knife, under the toe kicks you will immediately see what I'm talking about. It's already got an angle to it that will help you out. I can't really describe it, you'd have to have both putty knives on hand and try each one of them out to see which one works best.

 

[highup]

.....the bent one does.

 

[paqman]

It's hard to tell without seeing the shape and dimensions of the room what we're talking about. If you had a layout drawn up, that would help.

Sorry, here is a layout of the whole house. We basically did plank in all of the white gray areas (not outside the house obviously). The bathroom I'm wondering about is the one on the far right (south) wall. I hastily drew in the countertops and island, as I didn't include them when I drew the layout. Obviously the counter tops are broken up by dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator. And there is a pantry in the corner.

Underneath the toe kick with a straight putty knife, it's more difficult to smooth out the silicone.
With that bent putty knife, under the toe kicks you will immediately see what I'm talking about. It's already got an angle to it that will help you out. I can't really describe it, you'd have to have both putty knives on hand and try each one of them out to see which one works best.

Ah I see what you mean.

 

[C.J.]

I don’t recommend filling the entire expansion space with silicone. You’ll end up using so much silicone to do that. A better way is to do it the way you would when perimeter sealing for Pergo. Get yourself some foam backer rod and fill the expansion space with that then you will seal the top of that with silicone. It’s super easy and you won’t go through multiple cases of silicone, maybe a few tubes at best. If you’re neat enough you don’t even need to mess with blue tape.

Pro tip: When applying the silicone if you can get it to squiggle like the frosting on top of a hostess cupcake, all you have to do is draw your finger across it to smooth and seal it in one pass. Well, maybe 2 passes, one each way, but trust me on the squiggle.

At the tub, if I don’t bump it with the LVP, I like to rip a T-mold or a reducer down to maybe 3/4” wide and I’ll bump that up to the tub. Looks so much better than 1/4 round. Do the perimeter seal then another bead of silicone on top to make it final.

 

[paqman]

I don’t recommend filling the entire expansion space with silicone. You’ll end up using so much silicone to do that. A better way is to do it the way you would when perimeter sealing for Pergo. Get yourself some foam backer rod and fill the expansion space with that then you will seal the top of that with silicone. It’s super easy and you won’t go through multiple cases of silicone, maybe a few tubes at best. If you’re neat enough you don’t even need to mess with blue tape.

Pro tip: When applying the silicone if you can get it to squiggle like the frosting on top of a hostess cupcake, all you have to do is draw your finger across it to smooth and seal it in one pass. Well, maybe 2 passes, one each way, but trust me on the squiggle.

At the tub, if I don’t bump it with the LVP, I like to rip a T-mold or a reducer down to maybe 3/4” wide and I’ll bump that up to the tub. Looks so much better than 1/4 round. Do the perimeter seal then another bead of silicone on top to make it final.

I wasn't really thinking of filling the gap between the boards with silicone, was more thinking of putting down the quarter round, then putting silicone at the top and bottom of that quarter round. (the part meeting the island, and the part meeting the floor. But again, worries about expansion capability. For the tub I was thinking of doing the same thing.

 

[C.J.]

I wasn't really thinking of filling the gap between the boards with silicone, was more thinking of putting down the quarter round, then putting silicone at the top and bottom of that quarter round. (the part meeting the island, and the part meeting the floor. But again, worries about expansion capability. For the tub I was thinking of doing the same thing.

Your way is definitely the easiest. If you perimeter seal it as I mentioned, and let the silicone cure before you set the base, you won’t be locking the floor in for expansion purposes.

 

[paqman]

Your way is definitely the easiest. If you perimeter seal it as I mentioned, and let the silicone cure before you set the base, you won’t be locking the floor in for expansion purposes.

Well I mean technically I am, because I'm caulking the quarter round to the flooring, and the top of the quarter round to the baseboard (at least around the island) However, it won't be a big gap, so it wouldn't be a big old block of silicone, just a thin bead sealing the quarter round.

I do like the idea of the backer rod underneath the quarter round in front of the tub. I guess I'm just wondering, if I'm putting a thin bead of caulk around the perimeter of the kitchen and bathroom, do I need to be concerned about expansion and contraction in the future. Because honestly I don't know how anyone comfortably uses a floating floor at all in kitchens or bathrooms where it is so easy to have liquids seep under from the perimeters. If your fridge leaks, dishwasher, kid spills milk, juice, soda near the edge of the island, or the edge of ANY of the floor really, that liquid will find it's way under the baseboard and under the floating floor. So I did silicone around where my refrigerator is because of that. But after installing all this, I really am worried about the kitchen and bathroom.

Edit: to explain my concern around the kitchen island, I have had too many times where a cup of some liquid falls on the floor, and half of it gets shot up against the island and drips down, forming a puddle at the edge of the island and the floor. So if the quarter round around the island isn't caulked on the top and the bottom, there is a very good chance liquid will find it's way down there. Around the toe kicks I don't feel that need as much to caulk the top of the quarter round, but the risk is still there.

Edit 2: I just thought more about what you said about the backer rod, and I think I was just slow. That would work around the island and kitchen cabinets as well. Then I could just nail the quarter round into the cabinetry and not worry about caulking the quarter round afterward. If the backer rod/silicone combo gives us enough flexibility, then I like that solution.

 

[Tile Tom]

Calk/silicone the Q round...... It'll be just fine.

 

[paqman]

Calk/silicone the Q round...... It'll be just fine.

That would be more convenient, as the 1/4" backer rod looks like a week out to get to me lol. But honestly I'll wait if it takes doing what's best. So sounds like two options. Use backer rod and silicone over that, vs put the quarter round down, and just silicone the top and bottom of it.

Aesthetics wise, the backer rod will look better, because no visible silicone shininess, so it might be worth the wait. except my daughter would like her shower back lol

Now that I think about it, I think most of my gaps are pretty big, and 3/8" would probably work better anyway. I can get that locally. Maybe I'll try that.

 

[C.J.]

A lot of guys would just caulk the 1/4 round. I’ve done it myself a few times. Potential problem is if you have some wood grain texture in your floor, when you caulk the bottom of the 1/4 round (with white caulk) that shit shows. Same thing if you bump the tub and caulk it, you gotta blue tape it cus the caulk gets into the texture when you smooth it with your finger and it looks like a kid caulked it.

HD and Lowes usually have the backer rod in stock and it’s way cheaper than silicone.

 

[paqman]

A lot of guys would just caulk the 1/4 round. I’ve done it myself a few times. Potential problem is if you have some wood grain texture in your floor, when you caulk the bottom of the 1/4 round (with white caulk) that shit shows. Same thing if you bump the tub and caulk it, you gotta blue tape it cus the caulk gets into the texture when you smooth it with your finger and it looks like a kid caulked it.

HD and Lowes usually have the backer rod in stock and it’s way cheaper than silicone.

Yeah lowes does have 3/8" backer rod, I'm gonna pick some up. I think it will look better too, not having silicone front and center.