Sealant re-new… too good to be true?
Updated: Jan 24
An honest product review of Unibond’s sealant re-new that can be applied OVER old & failing sealant.
We've all been there; one minute, your sealant is white and shiny bright, and the next, it's slimy and harbouring all kinds of grossness! I’m all for affordable & achievable DIY hacks, so when I saw this sealant ‘renew’ in the special aisle in ALDI I wanted to try it. Unibond claims you can apply sealant renew OVER the old sealant even if it’s cracked or mouldy , although they recommend treating the mould first. And at £4.99 it was half the price of Amazon & B&Q, another good reason to try it! You also don't need to use a caulking gun which a lot of people don't enjoy.
You will need *contains affiliate links
Cleaning sponge like this one
Drying cloth like this one
Unibond sealant re-new available on amazon if you don't have an Aldi nearby
Masking tape is handy to have
How to apply sealant re-new
Below, are the steps I took to apply on the yellowing sealant around my bathroom sink. It’s six years old and still sound and in good condition aside from the slight yellowing.
Clean old silicone sealant (especially important if the sealant is mouldy as will need treating with mould killer or bleach).
Fully dry the cleaned sealant and surrounding area.
I applied two pieces of masking tape, one either side of the existing sealant, to make the application process easier. I find this is a handy DIY hack and use it a lot. It works for decorators caulk too.
I shook the tube well, really trying to get the product down into the end to prevent air bubbles.
I positioned the applicator (the image below shows the shape of the applicator close up) at the start of where I wanted the sealant to go and squeezed the tube so come came out of the end.
I started slowly moving the tube along the line of existing sealant, while squeezing the tube quite firmly.
Once the whole line had been covered, I carefully peeled off the masking tape to reveal a neat straight line of sealant renew.
Now the product needs a few hours to fully dry.
The Unibond sealant re-new application process
On the whole, it was fairly easy to apply, although you have to be careful to apply even pressure & not press too hard otherwise you can end up wiping it off and leaving gaps & I found you get air bubbles quite easily so need to shake hard to get the product into the end of the tube.
The results
Overall, it worked and was cost-effective. It claims to be mould-resistant and long-lasting, but I’ll have to update you on that in a few months. However, I don’t think I would recommend for the following reasons…
- it feels lazy to pile another layer over old silicon rather than replacing it which isn’t a huge job in itself - read my tutorial on replacing bath sealant here.
- The product came out the tube unevenly (you can see at the start of the application that i had to go back over it) & it was quite thin.
- as it’s covering existing sealant, it has to be wider than I would’ve chosen otherwise
- if the sealant below had cracked or was mouldy (as advertised as suitable) it feels like only a matter of time before the new top layer is affected so why not just replace properly now.
- the advantage is it’s quicker than taking out the old sealant first.
Would you use this?
Let me know in the comments.⬇️⬇️⬇️
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