1 Cut the caulk

The best way to remove old caulk is by cutting it away with a sharp utility knife. You'll want to make two cuts — one, horizontal and one, vertical.

2 Lift out the old caulk

Now you can simply lift out much of the old material in a single piece.

3 Scrape remainder of caulk

Next, use a razor blade-style scraper to remove any portion of the old bead still clinging to the surface.

4 Apply foam sealant

Next, this foam sealant remover does a great job of loosening anything that's still left. Just brush it on and wait a few minutes.

5 Final Cleaning

For a final cleaning, a non-metallic abrasive pad like this, does a good job.

6 Wipe with a cloth

Next, wipe with a clean cloth or a paper towel.

7 Brush with bleach

Pour some household bleach into a plastic or glass container and brush it into the joint to kill any lingering mildew or mold spores. Let the surface dry thoroughly.

8 Apply New Caulk

Now it's time to put the new caulk in. Step one, use the right material.  This silicone contains a mold and mildew inhibitor.

9 Cut the tip off the cartridge

Cut the tape or tip of the cartridge, just large enough to fill the joint. Using a sharp utility knife, slice on an angle along one of the premarked lines.

10 Preparing the caulking gun

Many caulking guns have a built-in piercing tool for puncturing the seal at the base of the nozzle.

11 Using a tip cutter

Or you might just try this nifty tip cutter. It adjusts to three different bead sizes. Just slip it over the end of the nozzle and press.

12 Using the tip cutter's piercing tool

The piercing tool folds out from the side of the case.

13 Laying the caulk

Place the tip of the nozzle into the corner and squeeze the trigger slowly and evenly. Pull the caulking gun toward you and lay down a uniform bead, just large enough to fill the joint.

14 Using Bead Tamer

This one-of-a-kind product is called Bead Tamer. It's sprayed on the joint before tooling and lubricates the surface of the silicone, allowing your finger to glide along evenly, leaving behind a perfectly smooth joint.

15 Tooling

The final step to getting a really professional caulking joint is a process called tooling. What you do is take your finger and draw it along the caulking bead.

16 Using a smoothing tool

This smoothing tool, used in combination with Bead Tamer also works well and produces a slightly narrower bead than your finger.

17 The end result

Now you have to admit, when it comes to a caulking joint, well, they just don't get much better looking than that.