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How to seal external pipes and vents

How To Seal External Pipes And Vents

Everything you need to know about how to seal external pipes and vents is on this page, from how to clean, apply and what mastic to use when sealing pipes and vents.

Why Should I Seal External Pipes And Vents?

When your there are external pipes and vents fitted to the house there will be a small gap around the perimeter of the componets, if left unsealed it can leave a draft and heat will be able to leave the house and water could seep into the house especially with heavy rainfall. Sealing these gaps will prevent all of the above. 

What Do You Seal External Pipes And Vents With?

To seal external pipes and vents with external silicone sealant - you’ll need the following equipment:

  • Stanley knife

  • Caulking gun

  • High quality external silicone sealant 

  • Silicone smoother tool 

  • Wonder wipes

External Pipes & Vents Sealants 

Listed across is a range of the External Pipes & Vents sealants you can use to seal your pipes & vents, We offer these weatherproof external sealants in our store, they come in a variety of colours and sizes to meet your needs.

What Areas Of External Pipes And Vents Do You Seal?

When sealing external pipes and vents you want to make sure you seal all of the correct areas so there is no heat escaping and no water leakage. 

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Pipes -  When sealing pipes you want to seal around the whole circumference of the pipe to make sure there are no gaps left unsealed.

Vents - When sealing vents you want to seal around the whole circumference of the vent to make sure there are no gaps left unsealed

How to seal pipes and vents step by step

How To Seal Pipes And Vents

Step By Step

Once you’ve got your equipment and tools, it’s time to start sealing your external pipes and vents.

 

Preparing the Silicone

Firstly you are going to want to find the correct external sealant or from a shop. There are many good brands out there to choose from, Everbuild is a high quality brand you can use to find the correct mastic for your pipes and vents. 

use your Stanley knife to cut the silicone sealant tube open. Before attaching the head or nozzle of the silicone, cut the tip as close to a 45-degree angle as possible, this will make applying it much easier and neater. Then place the silicone into the caulking gun and pull the trigger slowly until you feel a bit of resistant so that the tube is securely in the gun and will not fall out.

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Clean the surface

You need to make sure that before applying the silicone that the surface has no dust, residue, water or old silicone if reapplying. You can wipe the surface down where silicone will be applied but you need to make sure it is then dried afterwards because silicone will not bond to a wet surface.

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Apply the sealant

Get as close as possible to the edge of the area you want to seal, and then apply the silicone by pressing the caulking gun trigger. In a smooth movement, begin from one end and work you way to the other end. Do not touch the sealant once you have have applied until you have sealed the whole area. When finished Applying click the leaver on the back of the sealant gun to loosen the tube and stop sealant from oozing out the nozzle. Cover the end of the nozzle so no excess sealant spills on the floor.

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Smoothing the sealant

Now spray the sealant you have applied with water (Water helps remover the excess sealant and stops it from sticking), then grab your sealant tool. Start from one end and slowly smooth the sealant bead until it is neat and flat. Make sure you have the wonder wipes ready for when excess forms on your sealant tool, do this until the perimeter is sealed. Your pipes and vents should now be sealed properly. you may want to have a look over and run the tool over any bits and are a bit wider or need slight touching up. If there are gaps this is no problem you can re apply and start the process again in that small area.

Give the sealant 24 hours to cure do not run any water or disturb the sealant during this time. 

Removing Old Pipe And Vent Sealant 

To remove old sealant you will need a Stanley Knife a small scraping tool, sealant remover and some sort of cloth. 

Start by running the Stanley blade down the centre of the sealant, next scrape away as much sealant as you possibly can using the scraper (be carful not to damage the brickwork whilst doing this). Apply the sealant remover to the left over bits of sealant and leave it for 15 minutes. 

Now you can rub over the sealant with a cloth and it should peel away quite easily. 

The sealant removing process is a lot more time consuming than applying sealant. Once you have finished removing all sealant you can now clean down the area and re apply.

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