# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  Caulking Brick expansion joints

## JB1

I was planning to caulk my expansion joints in my owner build house myself using Sikaflex Pro. 
However I have heard its not that easy to apply. 
I'm actually pretty good at caulking silicone in the bathroom, kitchen etc. 
Should I get a professional caulking person for the expansion joints in the bricks or attempt to do it myself?    
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## JB1

If I decide to do it myself, how many linear metres will a Sikaflex Pro 600ml sausage cover in the ~10mm expansion joints?  
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## Gaza

dont forget the backing rod, 
there is a chart some where i see if i can find it,  
maybe shop around for the sika cause we pay under 10 bucks a sausage vs 20 some thing at bunngings

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## Ozcar

> If I decide to do it myself, how many linear metres will a Sikaflex Pro 600ml sausage cover in the ~10mm expansion joints?

  If they don't give any clues, surely one could come up with a ballpark figure? 
600ml = 600,000 cubic millimetres. 
A square gap 10mm by 10mm has cross sectional area of 100 square millimetres, so you could fill 600,000 / 100 = 6000 millimetres (or  6 metres). So, it might not really be a square gap, but this must give some idea...

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## Oldsaltoz

Insert backing rod 12mm, I use a home made gauge, a small 'T' shaped bit of ply. 
Run some masking tape down both sides. 
Start at the bottom on one side and work your way up, then again on the other side, then another run up the middle, repeat the above till you have around 6mm depth or 6mm from the face. 
I use a smaller ply gauge to get a neat slightly concave finish, so just do the edges on the last run and let the gauge smoth the joint to the correct profile. 
Try to match the colour of the brick when purchasing your sealant. 
Good luck.   :Smilie:

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## JB1

Thanks guys for the tips. 
Unfortunately my bricks isn't uniform in colour. The front face of the brick is blue, the side is reddish. So on the expansion joint, half the bricks are blue and half are reddish.   
 I'll prob use grey colour sealant. 
Doesn't sound too hard to do it myself. 
So the sealant should be around 6mm thick?  
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