Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?

Subject: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Lino Destroyer
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 09:11 AM

Just ripped a big gash in kitchen Lino whilst moving fridge to get at something that dropped behind.

Online repair tutorial requires 'household caulk' gun.

http://www.wisegeek.org/how-do-i-repair-linoleum.htm

I'm guessing this is an American name for something I can find easily in a UK DIY shop ?

One of the silicon or glue tubes ?

Which'd be best for a near invisible long term repair

Help required - wife will be home from work around 6 o'clock...

thanks

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 09:22 AM

Yes, probably one of the clear silicone gunky stuff that comes in a tube.

Here it comes in both white and clear (but I think clear might be best for your purposes) and can also come in tubes needing a caulking gun to use them (with a squeezy thing that pushes the caulk out the tip at the other end).

Usually used for caulking around a bathtub enclosure or something like that.

Linn

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 10:41 AM

'Household caulk'=Mastic   (I think!)

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 10:52 AM

Nip down to your local DIY and ask for a mastic gun and container. Tell them what you need it for and they'll fix you up with whatever is necessary to do the job.

Don't try and pick one yourself. There are hundreds of mastic containers for just about every job you could ever imagine.

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 11:02 AM

"Household caulk" is probably NOT the right stuff, it sounds like decorators caulk which is not very stick and not very strong. Fred McCormick has the right of it, but I doubt if anything will do the job effectively and permanently.

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 11:21 AM

Caulk is usually taken to mean mastic in the UK which is a flexible filler for gaps. Talk to a good DIY store, it sounds as if you need a glue if some sort.

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: pdq
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 11:32 AM

How about "estate tally-whacker".

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: maeve
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 12:25 PM

Is this information of any use?

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 12:26 PM

Mastic is generic term that probably shouldn't be narrowed to a particular type of product.

(I spent quite a while trying to figure out what "araldite" was... until I remember "Google is my friend"... turns out the UK uses a registered trademark name for a range of *epoxy* products... much as we use Kleenex at times as a generic word.)

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Lino Destroyer
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 12:41 PM

Thanks for good sugestions..

Too Late - the wife's just got home much earlier than expected !!!

"Why's there a big rip in the lino by the fridge???" - oh well...


At least she'll put up with a temporary make do repair with a few strips of duct tape until I can get out to a DIY store.

Maybe if I leave it long enough and she gets used to it, that might even do as a permanent solution ???

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 02:02 PM

err... semi-permanent, until you redo the flooring altogether :D

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 05:46 PM

I didn't know anyone still had lino - maybe it's time for a new floor?

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: bobad
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 05:52 PM

I suspect lino is another one of those generic terms for any type of floor covering that isn't carpeting.

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: maeve
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 06:03 PM

Lino is still available, and in colours/colors and designs never before available.

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: GUEST,Lino Destroyer
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 06:14 PM

bobad - you may very well be right. I wrote 'lino' automaticaly without thinking.

But it's most probably not what I knew as 'lino' as a kid back in the early 60s.
The stuff we used to scrape chunks out of at infant school, gauging out bloodied strips of finger in the process,
to print primitive pattern designs...

The floor covering, is actually more likely some sort of vinyl from the 1980s or 90s ???

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jul 14 - 11:31 PM

The linoleum used for flooring was a very hard product, also used for making art (linoleum cuts were like wood cuts). Vinyl flooring is a completely different creature. Easily torn - I could visualize the tear happening as you described it. The foot of the fridge gouging the soft vinyl and cutting into it. That wouldn't have happened with linoleum.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Musket
Date: 23 Jul 14 - 02:23 AM

Linoleum was a patented flooring made in Dunfermline , Scotland.

It has anti bacterial qualities in its own right and companies making flooring for hospitals, commercial kitchens, toilets etc are making use of the out of patent formula.

You are right about hard wearing. It was a bugger to get to lie flat when new....

Subject: RE: Tech: What is 'household caulk' called in UK ?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 23 Jul 14 - 12:28 PM

The mastic you get in Greece, especially from Chios is a chewing gum from a tree resin. Mind you, I bet it would stick your lino as it tends to stick your jaws shut! I prefer the liqueur made from it (mastika).

RtS