cynthiann

I assisted a friend one time who was running behind. He had mitered two baseboard pieces together with about a quarter inch gap in between. I cringed, but he said he could fix it. First, he threw some caulk in it. After it dried and shrank, he put spackle in it and leveled it off. After it was painted, you couldn't tell it was there with a manifying glass.

His reasoning is that the spackle won't crack when the wood expands and contracts because it's not touching the wood...there is a layer of caulk between them. Does this make any sense to you guys?

phinsher

Not really sure, but i tried the same thing for a customer about 5 years ago. It was a curved riser going up a stairway. Where 2 pieces were mitered together there was an obvious crack. She said 4 different painters had repaired it and it always came back. the problem was this million dollar house was about 30 yards away from a train track. We dug out the crack, spread in caulk with a putty knife, then skimmed with a hard spackle/putty then primed and painted. After a month it still hadn't come back and i've never heard about it since then.

CarlW

Sure it makes sense. It's the same theory we use when filling drywall cracks that keep coming back with caulk and then floating over that with drywall mud.