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caulk cracked immediately!
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Posted by
pitpat (
My Page) on
Thu, Sep 1, 11 at 13:06
| DH caulked around our chair rail a few days ago (there are gaps), and the caulk cracked immediately. He used brand new DAP Alex Plus. Is there something else we should try? TIA |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| pPc? Details about width and depth of area caulked? |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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This is what DH said:
The top of the chair rail is about 1/8" wide. The depth varied �" at times there was none (where the chair rail was flush with the wall), but in other spots there was as much as an 1/8" gap. The crack runs almost the entire length of the area caulked, so depth doesn't seem to be the issue. Would it crack if I smoothed the caulk too thin(ly)? also, out of curiosity, what does "pPc" mean? Not "pay-per-click," I imagine. |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| Oops, that was supposed to be Pic for picture. Sometimes said to be worth a thousand words. |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| Caulk isn't really meant to fill gaps that large even though people do it all the time. Yes, applying the caulk with too much water will cause it to crack and applying caulk into big gaps will cause it to crack also. You will need to apply the caulk multiple times anyway in order to account for the shrinking. If you can push on the chair rail and it moves, this is another reason that the caulk may crack there. Can you use some nails to tighten up the gap? |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| Here ya go. 
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RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| We weren't 100% sure about caulking the gap, so I guess we have our answer now. :( However, the crack does run the length of the rail, even where there was no gap, so I'm not sure if that was the problem. Regardless, do we just need to keep applying small beads until it doesn't crack? This has been so frustrating! |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| We weren't 100% sure about caulking the gap, so I guess we have our answer now. :( However, the crack does run the length of the rail, even where there was no gap, so I'm not sure if that was the problem. Regardless, do we just need to keep applying small beads until it doesn't crack? This has been so frustrating! |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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The only two hints I can give:
1) Primer before caulking on new sheetrock , because caulk sticks a lot better to painted materials than raw ones.
2) If the gap is "healthy", use a caulk with more solids/water ratio, like Big Stretch caulk. Since there is less water, it really does not shrink down very much as it dries.
Casey |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| Spend a few extra dollars on a good flexible caulk and follow the instructions. Dynaflex is one quality caulk that is elastomeric and will perform much better than the inexpensive Alex caulk. |
RE: caulk cracked immediately! Tooling
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| Did you tool the caulk in place? |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| What do you mean by tool the caulk. Do you think its' necessary to use one of those little caulking tools? I haven't come across that tip yet. (I know this is an old thread). |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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| No, tooling just means using your finger to smooth the caulk into the gap evenly. |
RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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RE: caulk cracked immediately!
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I am guessing it cracked because it was lousy caulk. Polyseamseal and White Lightning are two brands to avoid. Polyseamseal will crack because it is just not flexible enough. W/L will crack because what do you expect at that price point? It is more water than solids, shrinks back a lot.
If you work the caulk too much, it may separate because not enough was left to fillet across the gap.
Casey |
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