[ponch37300]

I am putting up a bunch of trim and will be painting. The walls are out of square and some of the joints aren't perfect. I believe I can use some caulk on these to fill the joints and then paint? Is there a certain kind of caulk that is better suited for this task or just use a basic latex caulk? Thanks for any help on caulking trim.

 

[Matthewt1970]

The siliconized is better but basic latex caulk will do fine inside. It's best to prime before you caulk.

 

[chrisn]

The siliconized is better but basic latex caulk will do fine inside. It's best to prime before you caulk.

Just make sure it is PAINTABLE caulk

 

[ponch37300]

Thanks guys. It is paintable. I thought that I had read that silicone caulk wasn't paintable but I read the tubes in the store and the silicone said it was paintable also. Thanks again

 

[toocheaptohire]

Hey ponch - I'm on a "you get what you pay for" mission and hoping to help you avoid another stupid mistake I made in being too cheap....stay away from the low end DAP (or similar $1 ish price point) paintable caulk or you'll have to redo everything after the high percentage of water in this stuff dries and it cracks up a storm. Pay up for the $5+ GE (or similar) paintable caulk - so worth it.

 

[sirwired]

You want Siliconized Elastomeric Latex. I use DAP Dynaflex 230 and have been happy with it. White Lighting / Sherwin Williams caulk is also reportedly quite good. (SW owns White Lighting.)

I am carrying on a one-man boycott of GE caulk after a horrible experience with their "lifetime guarantee" goopy, nasty, bathtub caulk that mildewed after only a week.

SirWired

 

[Matthewt1970]

Hey ponch - I'm on a "you get what you pay for" mission and hoping to help you avoid another stupid mistake I made in being too cheap....stay away from the low end DAP (or similar $1 ish price point) paintable caulk or you'll have to redo everything after the high percentage of water in this stuff dries and it cracks up a storm. Pay up for the $5+ GE (or similar) paintable caulk - so worth it.

Most caulks will do that if you don't let it dry overnight before painting it.

 

[toocheaptohire]

Nope - I'm not letting DAP off the hook on this. I let it dry overnight (and then some) before painting. It's simple chemistry - the higher the water content, the more the caulk will shrink/crack. The cheaper caulks have the highest water content since water is a cheap filler.

 

[kimberland30]

I'll second not using a cheap caulk. I bought regular ol DAP stuff (cheap) and will have to recaulk all the trim in our den (crown, trim around doors and windows, chair rail, etc). The stuff I used looked okay at first, but it has shrunk considerably and now needs to be redone. Had I known better I would have used a higher end caulk.

I also made a mistake in our bathroom when caulking the wainscotting and tub - I used stuff that has adhesive in it (on accident) and that turned out to be a hot mess. All my nail holes are now yellow and I need to scrape that crap off the wainscotting and repaint it.

Not a fun project at all.

 

[chrisn]

. I thought that I had read that silicone caulk wasn't paintable but I read the tubes in the store and the silicone said it was paintable also.


Some is, some is not.

 

[Matthewt1970]

A lot of the Silicone II is paintable.