Laquering Jambs And Casing

aikenback

Hi everyone, I am on a job where the finisher and his partner did both the finishing and the laquering. Several months after they finished the laquer it has cracked at al the joints between the casing and the jambs as well as the doorstops. I know they caulked the joints because i saw them do it. However I wonder what the problem was. Was thelaquer wrong?, was the caulking not dry enough?, and have any of you seen this before?, I'm just glad I'm not resposible for this trade this time! Any ideas?

Metro M & L

I don't do a lot of lacquer work. The house has probably started to breath a little bit with the change in weather. My guess is the caulk is expanding and contracting as it should but the lacquer is not designed to do that. I don't think I would caulk a stain grade job. The lacquer is just not made to flex and move on a joint like that.

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Megabass

What M & L said to a capital T.

aikenback

I failed to mention that the laquer was solid white over mdf seems to be the way around here. One would think a high gloss latex (flexible) paint would be a better choice. I'm not a painter, but I wonder why the white laquer? Just curious.

go dart

fast drying time. really fast

eastend

lacquer is a much harder, more brittle finish than say, varnish.It won't give or flex as much, so it could crack much more readily with any movement of the wood

Rcon

Lacquer gives a far superior looking finish than latex when done properly. I would never caulk anything I was lacquering though. Have you ever seen a factory made cabinet caulked?

Lacquer is flexible, but only as flexible as wood, since it is made of cellulose. It will not flex with the settling/movement of a house, thus it is bad practice to caulk under lacquer. However, even a latex paint will crack at the caulk lines as a house settles - nature of the beast.