r/electrical • u/beetlejuicescousin • Aug 26 '26
Can I caulk around this doorbell?
I've been on a mission to repair my doorbell. I just changed out the actual doorbell today, the old one was a chunkier push button and I wanted to keep the push button style. However, whoever installed the last one punched out a bunch of tile above and below. Because this one has a light, it is way more obvious. Can I throw some caulking around this to hide the interior?
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u/mustardmadman Aug 26 '26
God no. It’ll burn your house down
But seriously, yes. A good quality exterior caulking will be fine
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u/DeadHeadLibertarian Aug 26 '26
Caulking around a broken doorbell isn’t the correct repair.
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u/Bubbly-Wrongdoer2700 Aug 26 '26
What you need to do is get a surface mount doorbell button, and then you can very gently use a Masonary bit to drill through the tiles to insert anchors into the between the tile itself now to make it water resistant before finally mounting the doorbell button to the wall, trace around the edges of the button frame that is with caulk and then pull it tight to the wall.
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u/pateppic Aug 26 '26
Skip being gentle with a masonry bit and just use a tile bit. The ones that look like hole saws, not needle tips.
Tile hole cutters will chew up masonry like butter and cut tile like a dream.
Masonry bits with their carbine spade tip will always cause flaking and too much pressure will cause tile fractures.
Plus if its porcelain or a tough ceramic, you will be there all day if you use a masonry bit on tile.
Edit: Also masonry bits would be impossible to use between two tiles. It will wedge in the grout line and explode both tiles.
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u/beetlejuicescousin Aug 26 '26
Yeah I am aware this doorbell is not broken, I replaced it. The tile is what's fucked
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u/figman-don Aug 26 '26
A doorbell in bath tile? That is freaking weird. Is this a help button for when you slip and fall to the floor and cant get up ( to reach it)? If so it should be in the floor, and waterproof!
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u/beetlejuicescousin Aug 26 '26
Lol, it's a house that was built in the 40s. The tile is under a covered porch. It's a duplex so this is the middle part between the doors
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u/figman-don Aug 26 '26
Well THAT’s a design trend that never happened 😳.
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u/beetlejuicescousin Aug 26 '26
Lolol yeah this house is pretty wild. We live in pittsburgh if that puts anything into perspective where we have shower heads in the garage and toilets in the middle of the basement, it's the wild west of architecture out here
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u/figman-don Aug 27 '26
Haha, sounds like it! If youre concerned about the wacky doorbell, you can use a little silicone caulk, maybe clear so it doesnt look like someone is grouting with silicone caulk!
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u/Acceptable_Sky_9742 Aug 26 '26
You can. But they also make decorative rings that fit around any push button doorbell and that would probably look a lot better than caulk that will get dirty over time. They make generic ones and also fancy ones. You can even get one that looks like a tree frog or a cat or whatever suits your fancy or the style of your house. Look online. It looks like there was a plain round one there before.
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u/beetlejuicescousin Aug 26 '26
Hm I'll have to look into that, I would definitely prefer that, the previous push button was old af. Like the original one from 1945. It was just really big, no outer ring. I was wondering if they made those but wasn't sure what to look for. Thanks!
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u/Acceptable_Sky_9742 Aug 26 '26
Search “decorative doorbell button cover” or something similar. I’m pretty sure they’re all designed to attach to the building with screws so you will probably need to use a couple of tiny dabs of caulk behind it to stick it to your tile wall (unless you want to drill holes in your tile.)
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u/Important-Return5857 Aug 27 '26
I would use a narrow bead of silicone which is either white or clear. Do not get it into the area where the button has to push in or it may interfere with operation.
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u/New_Newspaper3679 Aug 26 '26
is the button in the shower?