What's a good makeshift cap for a tube of caulk?

Question

Okay, so this problem doesn't keep me up nights, but it's still annoying.

Most of the tubes of caulk available don't provide a cap to keep the caulk fresh if you don't use up the whole thing at the first use. What's a good way to use something I may already have around the house to keep this tube of caulk from drying out?

Answer 1

Once it is open it will eventually dry out. I have been able to keep caulk for as long as a month by forming a bead of caulk around the tip and then pulling off that bead when I am ready to use it again.

Answer 2

Golf tee

Answer 3

A wirenut works wonders!

Answer 4

shove a long nail in it. some bottles of oil have a tapered push on cap that may also work but I always just use a nail or s***w and when I need it again just pull it out. Never tried it over a long time but it works for a few days.

Answer 5

a dry wall s***w will hold it it till you need to re use  it

Answer 6

drying out is mainly caused by air. solution is to keep the air out.

i try to pull back as much caulk as possible in side the tube, then fill the spout with water  for water based caulk or the liquid that is the base for the caulk. plug the hole piece of wood /s***w / nail OR and that works better do not fill the spout completely with liquid and take a candle an let the hot wax close the spout.  do the same at the other end for the moving bottom of the container end so that also at the bottom side the  air can not penetrate. this extends the shelf live as long as the temperature is not too low nor too high.

Answer 7

The solution depends on how large a hole you make when you cut the applicator end off.  If the opening is small you can insert a wide-headed (16d) nail into the end, and cover this with masking or some other tape.  Another solution is to use a wire-nut, the plastic cap used to cover the bare ends of wire in a wall outlet.  HOWEVER, THESE ARE ONLY TEMPORARY SOLUTIONS.  Once opened the usable life of the contents is limited.

Answer 8

Stick a s***w in it.Make sure the s***w is about the same size as the hole.Then when you need to use it again,pull out the s***w with the dried caulking.

Answer 9

I have used a piece of masking tape and that worked

Answer 10

Depending on the size of the hole, use a nail or s***w.  If it may be some time before you use it again put some duct tape over the nail.

I have kept them for months that way.  usually dry out after about a year. (unopened ones also don't last much longer than that.)

Answer 11

i used to just stick a big nail in it.............tom

Answer 12

I usually stick a galvanized nail in the opening.works good--when you pull the nail out, any caulk that started to set up pulls out with the nail

Answer 13

I find that a 2 inch strip of tin foil, about 6 inches long, wrapped a few times around the tip was sufficient to keep a tube of liquid nails for a few months.

Answer 14

Wrap a piece of Duct around the end like a cone. Now, punch a hole in the flat, sealed part of the tape and you can hang the tube on a nail!