To caulk or not to caulk, that's the question.

stelzerpaintinginc. said:

After reading a recent thread I noticed some of you might be caulking wood to wall when the wood is natural/stain-grade. Now, I am not the caulk police, but the only time I'd ever consider filling a gap from a wall or ceiling to stain-grade trim is if there were massive gaps and the customer has made a special request. Other than that, I've always believed that the gap should be minimized by the carpenter, not filled by the painter. I'm not saying my way is right and others are wrong, I'm just curious as to how others do it.

That said, how many of you are caulking walls & ceilings to stain-grade trim? Do you caulk it or don't cha? That's the question.

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Great minds think alike, we take the same approach.

I always thought caulking stained trim was a no-no outside of special circumstances like very old stained trim with paint all over it already or something like that.

I was a little mortified when I went to instal with the cabinet makers I worked with for a time and they used brown caulk to "cheat" on some of they're crown molding instillations.

Since then I've realized it's not as unheard of as I thought. Apparently it's fairly common.

As far doing it purposely on NC work, never heard of that. I guess if that's what the customer wants, fine.

Being a paperhanger, I like to see all gaps filled between wall and trim. Trimming fat and shoving the paper up under trim is a PITA, and if it's trimmed even, the wall will show if you look at it from the correct (as in worst) angle.

Sure it be nice if the trim installer got all the trim tight to the walls, but then that means the wall guys gotta make the walls FLAT, and you know how easy it is to train 'em to do that - hell, house breaking an 8 week old puppy is easier.

But that's just from the eyes of a retired paper hacker

NEIN! The closest I've ever gotten to that was using a caulk that was tinted brown and it matched the stained wood. It was a taper hack-job that caused the gap between the wall and the crown. Other than that, I just usually mud the area to eliminate the gap and trick the eye. Does that make sense?

stelzerpaintinginc. said:

After reading a recent thread I noticed some of you might be caulking wood to wall when the wood is natural/stain-grade. Now, I am not the caulk police, but the only time I'd ever consider filling a gap from a wall or ceiling to stain-grade trim is if there were massive gaps and the customer has made a special request. Other than that, I've always believed that the gap should be minimized by the carpenter, not filled by the painter. I'm not saying my way is right and others are wrong, I'm just curious as to how others do it. That said, how many of you are caulking walls & ceilings to stain-grade trim? Do you caulk it or don't cha? That's the question.

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We've done some repaints that have been perviously hacked where the wall meets the base/case. On a given stretch, there might be a small gap for a foot or two, then tight for a bit, then paint on the wood for a piece. To remedy that, we tape a tiny bit on the wood, then caulk and paint. It straightens out the line, and eliminates the gaps and hacks on the wood. Normally though if it hasn't been perviously hacked, then no caulk.

ExcelPaintingCo said:

We've done some repaints that have been perviously hacked where the wall meets the base/case. On a given stretch, there might be a small gap for a foot or two, then tight for a bit, then paint on the wood for a piece. To remedy that, we tape a tiny bit on the wood, then caulk and paint. It straightens out the line, and eliminates the gaps and hacks on the wood. Normally though if it hasn't been perviously hacked, then no caulk.

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I do the same. I rather enjoy straightening out the mess that previous painters have made. Usually I do not caulk above or next to stained woodwork. In such cases, when debating the question of whether to caulk or not to caulk, I think that caulking is such sweet sorrow. :whistling2:

I did a massive cottage last fall, all new construction. Not a painted surface in the cottage all stain. They wanted it caulked, I told them there is no way in hell in caulking a single thing in there.

They followed me and caulked Avery mitre, seam, nail hole, and gap they could find.

I couldn't believe how much caulking they did on a stained trim package.

I have seen several stained packages caulked. I had an employee show me how they did it when he worked out west.

I must say...it looked awesome.

He taped the base leaving a 1/16" reveal. He then caulked over the tape, painted the walls and removed the tape. Really looked good. I couldn't believe until I saw it.

Caulk them all the time,laser sharp lines. Tape,caulk,wait a few minutes, paint, pull tape,perfect lines. I never used to but where I live now it's the standard.If you don't you will be coming back to do it later. I prefer it even though it takes more time.

kmp said:

Caulk them all the time,laser sharp lines. Tape,caulk,wait a few minutes, paint, pull tape,perfect lines. I never used to but where I live now it's the standard.If you don't you will be coming back to do it later. I prefer it even though it takes more time.

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Do you call it "back-caulking"?

epretot said:

I have seen several stained packages caulked. I had an employee show me how they did it when he worked out west.

I must say...it looked awesome.

He taped the base leaving a 1/16" reveal. He then caulked over the tape, painted the walls and removed the tape. Really looked good. I couldn't believe until I saw it.

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This is the way both grandfather and father did it from the late add sixties forward. We still do it this way, with a clean crisp line every time.

Wow. Many more do it than I woulda guessed.

Nope - not here.

we sometimes just use a clear caulk and then paint as usual against the stained wood.

Too much, I thought this thread was finite,
No.
Sloppy carpentry leaves us with a dilemma.
I will gap interiors for presentation purposes.
Exteriors for obvious weathertightness issues. using backing rods for serious voids & modified silicone with 24 hr cure before overcoating.
Downunder we have serious Leaky Building Syndrome because the building fabric cannot respire in response to the environment and cladding of any sort should be fitted so that this occurs.
I look forward to more instalments in this discussion.
Thanks

So, is this an east-coast v/s west-coast kinda thing?

You guys that have always caulked, are we talking smooth walls or textured?

No that I think about it, seems like Woodcoyote caulks his stain work out west where he's at. Could be wrong.

I can see it being more of a thing with textured walls. I guess the theory I'm used to is that there shouldn't be any cracks to caulk in new stained trim. And the lines are always straight because of the "perfect" natural break between trim and wall. Reality falls short of that of course, but that's the goal.

RH and Gough are both out west where texture is common so that can't be the whole answer. Must be regional to some extent though.

I live in western Colo. and it's common, when I lived on the front range 22 years ago it was not. In southern Az where I lived stain packs were not common. I lived there 14 years and only did a hand full. Might have changed in the last 8 years. Every I have lived texture walls are standard. Times change.

Most of the time out here, homes with stained trim have never had caulk applied and I'm not going to be the one to suggest to the HO that it now be done. This is especially so since most of the time it looks fine without it.

It's largely a matter of perspective IMO - the small dark line an even gap creates just isn't that noticable or objectionable against natural wood trim, which also tends to be darker. But take that same even gap and have it up against white painted trim and it's another story.

RH said:

Most of the time out here, homes with stained trim have never had caulk applied and I'm not going to be the one to suggest to the HO that it now be done. This is especially so since most of the time it looks fine without it.

It's largely a matter of perspective IMO - the small dark line an even gap creates just isn't that noticable or objectionable against natural wood trim, which also tends to be darker. But take that same even gap and have it up against white painted trim and it's another story.

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Bingo.