'Must-have' tools like silicone caulk, 'snake whips' get the job done

Apparently, I should have had silicone caulk in mine when I replaced a broken window on our mud room door.

The incorrectly measured replacement pane came up short because it sat in a deep channel in the frame. Calling upon do-it-yourself creativity, I filled the gap with a strip of unused sump pump cover seal.

"Why didn't you just run a bead of silicone caulk into that channel?" Chronicle reader J asks.

"Silicone caulk is one of the 'big three' that every guy should have in their tool kit (the other two being duct tape and a can of spray lubricant)....  Whenever I have a problem, my mind works through the process this way:

"Can I fix this with duct tape? If no, then...
"Can I fix this with silicone caulk?  If no, then...
"Can I fix this with WD-40 (spray lubricant)? If no, then...
"Can I fix this using some combination of the above?"

Reader J extols the virtues of silicone caulk, saying it "can be used as an insulator, as a glue, as a vibration absorber, as a crack filler, as a spacer or shim, as a small hole filler, and in many other ways.... It is waterproof and flexible. It sticks moderately well to many surfaces that NOTHING else will stick to."

So here's what J says I should have done:

"You can use a piece of wax paper to form it (silicone caulk) into shape while wet if you don't want to get it on your fingers. In your case, I would have run a bead of silicone, then used wax paper or disposable rubber gloves to press it down into the channel." 

Looks like I should have pulled out a tube of silicone caulk.