How to fill a gap between wall and architrave

leveller2911

Paul the painter is spot on Leif......... theres a clue in his name....lol seriously though decorators caulking is the kiddie you need and you may be confusing silicone sealant. Caulking is acrylic (water based) and takes a paint finish well..Are your tubes of caulking old stock as they can be inconsistant in texture?.

Caulking is designed so it can be painted as soon as the surface layer has a skin even though underneath it may not be dry. Its designed not to shrink too much when it dries out.

Leif

leveller2911 wrote: »

Paul the painter is spot on Leif......... theres a clue in his name....lol seriously though decorators caulking is the kiddie you need and you may be confusing silicone sealant. Caulking is acrylic (water based) and takes a paint finish well..Are your tubes of caulking old stock as they can be inconsistant in texture?.

I don't have any silicone sealer. I have 4 or 5 tubes all different makes of decorators caulk, some even say decorators caulk on the tube, some say decorators filler, all are acrylic, bought in the last month or two. I specifically tested one (decorators caulk from local builder's merchants) to see if it was suitable and it took ages to dry when thick. I guess I'll try another test with some. My guess is that is has be to laid down in layers, and for this hole I'd need a solid filler first.

Have you filled a hole that size with caulk?

keystone

leveller2911 wrote: »

Paul the painter is spot on Leif......... theres a clue in his name....lol seriously though decorators caulking is the kiddie you need

For a 5cm x 1cm hole? - are you serious?

Cheers

MaggieBaking

We had some boxing in for electrical cables in our lounge that had a gap from floor to ceiling at the edge. We just filled in with decorator's caulk (and we're neat but inexperienced DIYers)

I'd say it was about 5mm wide and 2-3 inches deep and a line of caulk worked for us, little bits fell through in a couple of places straight away, but we reapplied immediately. We were able to smooth it over when it was still wet. We have since decorated and it looks great.

leveller2911

keystone wrote: »

For a 5cm x 1cm hole? - are you serious?

Cheers

Who's mentioned 5cm (50mm or 2" x 1cm (10mm or just over 3/8")...:D



Keystone I think your confused about the measurements the OP said the gap is 2mm(less than 1/8" ) x 1cm(10mm just over 3/8") max ...

Caulking only needs to be filled as deep as it needs behind the architraves so 2mm wide and 10mm at worse is fine to caulk.

keystone

OP said gap was 2mm at top of architrave widening to 1cm at the bottom. He then said the depth is 2 inches. So at the bottom of the architrave the hole is 5cm deep x 1 cm wide and as high as it goes as it narrows to reach 2mm at the top of the architrave ie over a 6 foot length. Thats what I think he said and if so its far too big a hole just to use caulk on its own IMO.

Cheers

leveller2911

keystone wrote: »

OP said gap was 2mm at top of architrave widening to 1cm at the bottom. He then said the depth is 2 inches. So at the bottom of the architrave the hole is 5cm deep x 1 cm wide and as high as it goes as it narrows to reach 2mm at the top of the architrave ie over a 6 foot length. Thats what I think he said and if so its far too big a hole just to use caulk on its own IMO.

Cheers

Why would you need to fill 50mm deep?, you only caulk as deep as it needs to fill 1cm wide(widest gap)......

By the time you've applied caulk to about 600mm high the width would probably be only 7mm wide...have to agree to differ....

keystone

leveller2911 wrote: »

Why would you need to fill 50mm deep?, you only caulk as deep as it needs to fill 1cm wide(widest gap)......

You don't - thats the whole point but you do need to put something in the back first to finish it as fast as possible. Most of the responses OP has had have suggested using caulk to fill the whole cavity or at least that is how he could easily read them. It just won't work.

By the time you've applied caulk to about 600mm high the width would probably be only 7mm wide

The average gap maybe. Its 2mm at the top and 1 cm at the bottom. Sorry I don't see where you are coming from at all.

...have to agree to differ....

As you wish.

Cheers

alwayspuzzled

keystone wrote: »

OP said gap was 2mm at top of architrave widening to 1cm at the bottom. He then said the depth is 2 inches. So at the bottom of the architrave the hole is 5cm deep x 1 cm wide and as high as it goes as it narrows to reach 2mm at the top of the architrave ie over a 6 foot length. Thats what I think he said and if so its far too big a hole just to use caulk on its own IMO.

Cheers

You should never use caulk to fully fill a gap of that size. I deal with this issue on a daily basis as many archs have gaps like this. If you have any gripfill availiable run a line of that inside the gap where it is wider than 5mm make sure that none of the product is proud of the gap and do not attempt to fill the gap. When that is dry cut your caulk nozzle to about 2mm at a diagonal angle, run the caulk down over the top, smooth down with a wet finger or sponge. If no gripfill is around run a squiggly line on the wall inside the gap, after a couple of hours repeat, if ness repeat again. This reduces the shrinkage, caulk can be overpainted as soon as it skins but its better left overnight as if you paint it too soon you will get what look like hairline cracks in it.

Do make sure that anything you caulk gets painted because although it looks nice and white when fresh 6 months down the line it will look filthy. This is a mistake many people make when gaps to skirts etc are picked up on a snag.

Leif

Thanks for the useful information.

keystone wrote: »

OP said gap was 2mm at top of architrave widening to 1cm at the bottom. He then said the depth is 2 inches. So at the bottom of the architrave the hole is 5cm deep x 1 cm wide and as high as it goes as it narrows to reach 2mm at the top of the architrave ie over a 6 foot length. Thats what I think he said and if so its far too big a hole just to use caulk on its own IMO.

Cheers

Exactly.