Watching the professional hang from a rope outside my window was more stressful than the leak itself
I really thought that buying a couple of tubes of industrial-grade exterior silicone from the hardware store would be enough to fix the drip near my bedroom window. It seemed simple enough. I’d seen guys do it on YouTube—just cut the tip, squeeze, and smooth it out. But once I actually looked down from the 14th floor, that idea died pretty quickly. It wasn’t just the height; it was the realization that if I messed up the application on the exterior wall, the rain would just pool behind the old, cracking sealant anyway.
Why I decided to hire someone instead of DIY
I spent about an hour looking at the gaps in the window frame and realized the previous sealant, which had been there for maybe seven or eight years, was basically just crumbly dust. I had bought a few tubes of a heavy-duty weatherproofing sealant, costing me around 40,000 KRW total, but they were sitting on my kitchen table gathering dust. I kept looking at the window and thinking, if I do this wrong, I’m going to be dealing with mold in the drywall by next summer. I don’t have the gear to rappel down the building, and frankly, the wind speeds on my floor make even opening the window for a long time feel like a chore.
The reality of the caulking service cost
I eventually called a local company that specializes in apartment exterior caulking. They quoted me about 300,000 KRW for the entire window perimeter. It felt like a lot of money to pay for a guy to just stand on a rope for two hours, but watching him work from the inside was intense. He had this specific tool to scrape out the old, hardened silicone, which looked like it took much more effort than I could have ever managed with a box cutter. He worked from 9 AM until about noon. By the time he was done, the white lines of sealant looked unnaturally clean compared to the weathered gray concrete of the exterior wall.
The lingering doubt about long-term results
It’s been about three months now. I haven’t noticed any more water streaks on the inner wall during the last heavy rain, so I guess it worked. But there’s this nagging part of me that wonders if the sealant he used is actually the high-quality stuff or just a standard grade. It’s hard to tell, and I’m still checking the windowsill every time there’s a storm. Maybe I’m just being paranoid because I spent more than I intended.
Is the internal fix just a band-aid?
I still see people online talking about fixing leaks with just a bit of sealant on the inside, which I find confusing. I tried that once on the bathroom sink drain, and it was a mess. It just didn’t hold up. I think the exterior aspect is just something you can’t really tackle yourself if you’re above the second floor. Still, looking at the bill and then at the window, I feel a weird mix of relief and frustration. It’s fixed, but I just hope I don’t have to call someone else for the other windows next year. For now, the house is dry, but the memory of that guy dangling outside my glass while I sat on my couch drinking coffee makes me feel guilty for not being able to do it myself.