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Caulking cracking at crown molding

11K views 8 replies 9 participants last post by  Buildtech 
#1 ·
Getting ready to paint a project that has 700 sq. ft. of Coffered ceiling. Hence a lot of crown moldings.
My experience tells me that I should expect to see major caulking failure where the crown is caulked to the wall and ceiling.
Here in Va, its usually around 50 during the day during the winter. We use torpedo heaters to take the chill off.
Now that I have written this, I think it will just take weeks and weeks of the main central gas heat to dry the wood so very much to make it crack.
But, maybe someone has some thoughts??
Thanks,
Gary
 
#4 ·
This is a great question.

Prime first then caulk. Caulking un-primed wood pulls in the caulk and weakens it.

Use the best caulk avail. The fairly new DAP 3.0 is getting good reviews and a lot of advertising. Has some urethane in it I believe from what I recall reading.
 
#5 ·
Torpedo heaters don't get the moisture out of the envelope. This can be a big problem with mudding in cool / cold weather. Unless they coped all those joints, or glued them, look for them to open up as it dries out.

Do the best you can with the best caulk.
 
#9 ·
Tight and secure crown, acceptable heat and humidity at least for a few days before you start will help. I've been using Big Stretch for a few years now and have not had a problem with it. It's about double the price of a regular tube of painters caulk but the gas alone for one call back more than makes up the difference!
 
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