All the painted moldings in my house have small gaps at the seams that were filled with caulk. Are moldings installed this way, or did the gaps result from the wood expanding/contracting over the years? The moldings are attached with nails but no glue. Is glue unnecessary, or undesirable? janet
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My wife used to have a sign in her office that said "we do our best and caulk the rest".
I am sure there used to be craftsmen back in the olden days who coped all the joints and glued them but these days they miter and caulk about 99% of the time.
How old is your house? If new/newish, what relative price range?
I see a lot of house and although trim fit and finish isn't a part of what I look for, the quality of craftsmen as reflected in trim fit has noticeably declined since the 1950s.
If there are noticeable gaps, in most cases it is the result of fitting
Remember, you get what you pay for, and as homebuilding has become ever more economically competitive, quality standards have necessarily changed
Well, there's alot can be
Well, there's alot can be said about the decline in workmanship.
However, as someone that has done a whole lot of finish I'd be remiss if I didn't offer an alternative viewpoint. I think I read somewhere that you live in a 1930's house? If I'm wrong, take this for what it's worth.
Around here in NW Oh., houses of that vintage have some pretty nice finishes. Most were not painted originally, although you'll see those that were. The fits were good, mostly all nails which tends to jar things, even loosening previous fasteners. Further, I don't know when wood glues started being used in finish work, but I doubt I've seen much in that time period.
Now you take that 80 y.o. work, throw all the heat cycles, foundation and framing movement and humidity at it and it's probably going to be normal for joints to open up. No matter the quality and time used to install it. Remembering of course there was a lot of hand tools used in the process.
So for your question I'd have to say that unless you refasten, movement will continue as now most of the fasteners have loosened in the wood. Even with renailing, cracks in a finish paint will probably never be perfect.
Yet we still see finishes from that and older vintages tight as the day they were born. Go figger.
You'll find many on this site (well, you used to be able to) that still produce quality installs that most probably will last a very long time in mint condition. That's part of what quality work is. Alot of things can look good at first. But in addition to the quality work is the occupants taking care of it.
And again back to your original post....
On builtup moldings I'll glues the pcs together in addition to the mitres and turns. As the buildup progresses I think glue and fasteners are the only way to attempt to keep the parts together, whether they be stained or painted. Time spent is minutes, certainly worth the effort.
The house was built in 1932, but I would guess that the fancier moldings came later. The original house was modest compared to some on this block, and the lot is the smallest. Actually, I'm not used to seeing such a variety in one neighborhood, and I joke to my husband that ours must have been the servants' quarters!
My mother's house in San Francisco has varnished wood moldings and they are tight. Her house was built in 1934. I love her house. High ceilings, solid as can be, lots of woodwork.
Janet
San Fran is generally a more humid environment than most, so likely fewer problems than an area like ours (central NJ) where summertime interior RH can run 40%-50% and wintertime down to 10% - that's a huge cycle.
We are working on this problem right now (interior winter dryness) and, along with trying to tighten up the exterior envelope (although most of house exterior is new addition) we are going to add a Honeywell TrueSteam unit with VisionPro IAQ thermostat.
The main part of our house is also 1932 and we live < 50 miles from you.
Check your wintertime interior RH!
Also, there are better sealants available today than in prior years - you may get an improvement by re-sealing (caulking) with one of the better ones, like:
View Image
http://www.wlcaulk.com/products/acrylic_latex_caulks_and_sealants/3006_ultra_all_purpose_elastomeric_sealant/index.html
Also, nails alone, especially gun nails, are often insufficient to support moldings more vulnerable to movement such as crown. The use of well-place trim screws (in lieu of say adhesive) and, for new installations, the back-blocking of crown can go a long way toward preventing gaps opening up, although a certain amount is inevitable.
Talk about dry air here in NJ!--my skin is a mess, and that's even with a humidifier attached to the furnace.
There were bumps under the paint layer of the molding. I thought these bumps were nail heads that the installers hadn't bothered countersinking. It turned out they *had* sunk and filled the nails, but over the years the putty worked its way out.
Janet
Yes - it was 12 degrees out this morning and again, the interior RH is < 15% ... way too dry. Our woodwork is protesting.
I compared the base molding in different rooms, and they are slightly different where remodeling was done. The original molding has a profile that isn't available anymore. Those are the moldings have the most caulk filler.
What do you use to glue wood to plaster?
Janert
For gluing wood to almost anything under the sun.
PL Premium. A urethane adhesive. I've found it available at any big box. Often moreso than a dedicated lumber supplier.
Both small tube and large.
I've found that wrapping a paper towell tightly over the spout with some glue oozed out works the best for storage after it's opened. You can pull the paper towell with dried glue plug out if it's hardened.
Putting a nail or screw in it isn't the way to go.
Remove tube from the gun after each use, in case there's a bit of squeeze-by on the plunger.
Most likely the wood has shrunk over the years. Even if it was once glued the glue will eventually fail when under stress.
Since this is painted it's easy to fill the gaps with caulk or filler to make them pretty much invisible.
The builder that finished my bathroom had a very similar phrase: "Caulk and paint make things what they ain't"
paint grade trim is often caulked--premium installation may be tight enough to not much, but caulk will still be used to slightly smooth all joints. Glue isn't needed, but isn't a bad idea--again a premium installation would often include that but the lowest bid wont.
Often caulked joints that look bad need an additional layer of caulking to be applied since this stuff shrinks a great deal.
Hope this helps.
Don