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We have 2 bathrooms paneled by our contractor last year with narrowly beaded painted paneling about 3/4 of the way up the walls, where it’s capped with crown moulding. It’s the stuff that is supposed to resemble tongue and groove beaded boards. The panels came in 4’X8′ sheets. Apparently, the large sheets were cut into many narrow pieces, because now we are noticing all the seams which are shrinking and leaving us with spaces which need filling. The panels are either fir or pine and were supposedly back-primed. The caulk we have applied as a fix just keeps opening up in the seams. Do we now have a maintenance headache? How can we resolve the problem without ripping out the panels and starting again?
Please help.
Thanks.
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Carole:
Poor construction practice. I would call back the contractor. When I use plywood I try to use full sheets and overlay the verticle pieces (stiles). When I have but joints together, I rip a rabbet (slot) that the panel fits in, so even if it shrinks 1/4" or so, there is room for it to do so.
Assuming your panels are painted, I would apply a filler, like wood dough, smooth it out and paint over the whole panel. It will still shrink, but not as much as caulk. Apply the first coat shy of the top, let it dry, and apply a second one to the top. Then paint.
*I have never seen the ply shrink that much but I dont cut sheets except on the end. you may want to try a polyurathane caulk. it will stretch incrediably.Rick Tuk