Tom Kraeutler: Welcome to this edition of the Money Pit’s Top Products podcast. I’m Tom Kraeutler.
Leslie Segrete: And I’m Leslie Segrete.
Tom Kraeutler: Coming to you from the Top Products Pavilion today at the 2014 National Hardware show. I’ll tell you what, after a kitchen or bath re-do, after you’ve carefully chosen the perfect colors, the perfect fixtures, the perfect paints and the perfect materials, there’s always one very unsightly leftover and that is a bead of white caulk.
Leslie Segrete: Oh, but it shows you’ve done a crisp, clean job.
Tom Kraeutler: If you’re a good caulker.
Leslie Segrete: Right! But you’re right, and you know what, there’s actually a new product on the market that allows do-it-yourselfers and contractors alike to create custom caulk colors on the spot to match any design element. So, here to tell us more is Alan Crupper from Red Devil. Welcome Allen!
Alan Crupper: Thank you.
Tom Kraeutler: So Create-A-Color Caulk is what you’re calling it. That’s been around for some number of years, but it sounds like you’ve changed the technology on this to make it a lot easier for do-it-yourselfers.
Alan Crupper: Yes, we have. We’ve actually incorporated the idea into a kit, so that the actual caulking and the mixer are included in the kit along with a syringe for the addition of the paint.
Tom Kraeutler: So describe the process.
Alan Crupper: Okay, so you take the specially formulated caulking and you squeeze the cartridge to get the plunger out of the back. Then you take the syringe that’s included with the kit and you draw 10cc’s of any color house paint, latex paint.
Leslie Segrete: It’s got to be a flat paint finish?
Alan Crupper: No, it can be any finish.
Tom Kraeutler: Really?
Leslie Segrete: Any finish!
Alan Crupper: But it has to be latex based, not oil based. And you draw that out, put it into the cartridge, into the formula and put the mixer in. The mixer actually fits right into the back of the cartridge and it tightens onto it so there’s no leakage. You move it back and forth in a back and forth motion and turning the tube at the same time.
Leslie Segrete: So you’re mixing it up.
Alan Crupper: Mixing it up inside the tube for about sixty seconds. Then you take it off, you unscrew it, tighten it to pull it back out. You wash it off with water – your mixer cleans up real easily – put the plunger back in and you extrude it with any normal caulking gun.
Tom Kraeutler: Wow, so you get an exact color to any paint that you’re using, that’s latex based.
Alan Crupper: Exactly.
Tom Kraeutler: So just think about that: bright red, black, all kinds of colors.
Leslie Segrete: You go bright red and black; I’m thinking oh, I can pick out this beautiful burgundy, paisley wall covering and I can run a bead of caulk up my stem wall and I’m like no, but you can pick out a color from something within … because that’s always the issue. If you’ve got wall covering and you’ve got some trim paint and then on any kind of molding, all of a sudden, depending on how you’re painting things, you’re stuck with this bead of caulk that suddenly draws an eyesore. And I always like to run a bead of caulk on molding, just to keep everything nice and crisp and beautiful. So this really gives you a great opportunity to match it and make it disappear. Some homeowners are terrible caulkers, so if you can make that … you should not be raising your hand!
Tom Kraeutler: You’re a sloppy caulker and you work for Red Devil.
Leslie Segrete: Alan is raising his hand!
Alan Crupper: Yeah, I get it all over me.
Leslie Segrete: Yeah, but is the bead straight?
Alan Crupper: Yes.
Leslie Segrete: See, that’s fine. All over you – not a problem. As long as the bead is straight, I don’t care how you look walking away from the project. But it’s really important because if it doesn’t look neat, it’s going to stand out. So if you’re able to sort of disguise that or camouflage it a bit, that’s great.
Alan Crupper: Absolutely.
Tom Kraeutler: Now the Create-A-Color Caulk base, does that have the same qualities that your other caulk products would have? For example, mildew resistance?
Alan Crupper: Mildew resistance, it’s siliconized, it’s just like a regular thirty-five year window and door caulk.
Leslie Segrete: That’s great. I mean that really is fantastic and this is specifically an indoor caulk or can I use it outdoors?
Alan Crupper: You can use it indoors or outdoors.
Leslie Segrete: That’s great.
Tom Kraeutler: Wow, one caulk does it all in any color you need. Create-A-Color Caulk is the product. It’s made by the Red Devil company. If you’d like more information, you can visit their website at Reddevil.com. Is the product on the market now?
Alan Crupper: It will be on the market in June.
Tom Kraeutler: Terrific.
Leslie Segrete: That’s fantastic.
Tom Kraeutler: Alan Crupper from Red Devil. Thank so much for stopping by the Money Pit’s Top Products podcast.
Alan Crupper: Thank you for having me.
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