Need spackle advice for tricky situation

13 years ago

Not exactly a paint question, but close enough, right? I'm hoping some of the experts can steer me in the right direction here.

We are fixing up our basement into a playroom, and in the process, we made a few big wide sliding closet doors by glueing two smaller door blanks together. This has left a visible seam in the middle of the doors. I would like to cover this seam so you can't see it, because I'd like to paint the closet doors with chalkboard paint and have them function like big chalkboards for the kids to draw on.

I am wondering what the best product is to use to fill in the seam. I would think a regular spackle might crack as the doors get slid around and banged, so I wonder if the lightweight or vinyl spackle might work better. Or something that dries soft and flexible like caulk might be better from a cracking standpoint, but I wonder if that would hold up under chalkboard paint what with writing on it and such. I was also thinking of something like woodfiller or bondo. And I've also seen rubberized spray-on coatings that you can put over repaired cracks to keep them from opening back up, but I'm not sure whether that would dry sticky or goopy or something and not work for the

Any advice or suggestions on what product might work best would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Comments (5)

lazy_gardens
13 years ago
Try "paintable" flexible caulk.

If the glue holds, the paint might stick.
paintguy22
13 years ago
Yeah, it depends on how big the gap is. Caulk won't hold up if you are going to have kids pressing on it with sticks of chalk. However, caulk is going to be the only thing that won't crack when there is movement. All the fillers are brittle so they will likely crack eventually. The lightweight fillers are a bad idea because they are 'lightweight' which means pushing on it will leave indentations. I would use a wood filler if you were going that route or cover the gap with a small piece of trim.
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Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
13 years ago
caulk,chalk
I am confused (:>)
Faron79
13 years ago
2 question:

1) Are these new chalkboards mounted on the wall?
2) Are the backs reinforced across the glue-joint?

If they're mounted on the wall (FLAT that is...!), little/no movement should happen at the joint.

>>> IF the doors are SOLID WOOD, consider routing-out an under-cut joint. The BOTTOM of the channel will be slightly wider than the top, forming a "key" that cannot come out!
* For the fillers...Minwax's 2-part filler.
* Other very good fillers include "PC-Woody" 2-part, Durhams Rock-hard putty, and M-H Ready patch from Zinsser (get the stuff in the METAL 1/2-pint container).
* The MH is more of a Heavy-Duty spackle-paste.
* This assumes NO movement will happen!!

Faron
Faron79
13 years ago
Ooops!!

Didn't notice you had converted them to SLIDING CLOSET doors!!
* If you've made a stiff "Back-frame" to reinforce that joint(s), should be alright...
* I'd glue 3 or 4 more boards across the backside of joint(s) in the middle area too.

Faron