Easy House Painting Tips - Newsletter June, 2010June, 2010 -- Issue #030 Welcome to some great House Painting Tips! Table of Contents Is it necessary to caulk between wall and baseboard molding? Is it necessary to caulk between wall and baseboard molding? No, it is not necessary but highly recommended. Caulking on the interior of a home is mostly cosmetic, and will definitely hide some of the larger gaps between the wall and trim - not all walls are straight :) When caulking baseboard trim I like to use an acrylic latex caulk that is "paintable". I also recommend painting the baseboard trim with one coat of paint prior to installing it on the wall. The caulk adheres better to the painted baseboard trim, as well as makes the baseboard trim painting effort go much faster. To caulk the trim, I typically apply a thin bead of caulk along about a 4 to 6 foot length of the baseboard trim, using a caulking gun. You can control the width of the caulk bead by the size hole you cut in the tip of the caulk tube. Then run a wet finger along the caulking line and wipe the excess you gather on a cloth. Try not to do this more than once or twice along the line since you'll just end up pulling the caulk up and create bumps of the build-up, etc. Let it dry and give it one last coat of paint and you're all set. Should I caulk between the baseboard and a laminate floor? Definitely not! Laminate floors and "floating" floors need to expand and contract with the changes in temperature and humidity. If you caulk the baseboard to the floor, you're defeating the ability of the floor to move. If you do have unsightly gaps due to an uneven floor, installing strips of quarter-round trim at the bottom is the best solution. This still allows adequate room for the floor to expand and contract.
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