It's messy, it's tedious, it's not the least bit fun, and for the most part, no one ever even notices it, if it's done right that is. People get all excited about paint. Throw some wood on the walls and it's a party. Caulk is like the eyebrow or moustache waxing of DIY. It doesn't get much attention unless you don't do it.
Yesterday I caulked the stairs. It took a long time, a lot of tape and pretty near a whole roll of paper towels.
This is what the stairs looked like after staining the treads and painting the risers. Not too good. That's a bummer. You do all that work and stand back to admire the lovely....cracks. Even though I spent hours sanding and staining, sanding more and applying polyurethane. Taping and priming and painting. Three coats. It looked like crap. All you could see was cracks and imperfections.
Now, let me say, there will be no after photos of perfection. I'm not a great caulker, but it will pass, and there are no glaring cracks staring at me.
More importantly in this case, there are no cracks for hot or cold air to creep through.
I'm not going to give a tutorial on caulking.
I'm in no way qualified. But I did find a product recently that makes me dread the job less.
I'm not in any way being compensated for mentioning Caulk-EZ. I just happened to come across it when searching tips on removing old caulk.
There is a video on the site that shows how to use it. Basically you just run your bead of caulk and spray the Caulk-EZ along the line, then run your finger along the line, like you normally would.
The caulk smooths out beautifully. It doesn't get all over the surrounding area, and though it still gets on your fingers, it's much less messy.
I used one roll of paper towels, as opposed to two, but I'm the messiest DIYer ever.
By no means perfect, but no more cracks and gaps
Now excuse me, I have about 20 more things I need to mark off the to-do list to get that room finished.
PS
On an entirely different note, I need help with my blog. I have been reluctant to admit that. I've always just played around with the layout, and through trial and error got things somewhat presentable. These days, I can barely find the time to post, much less to tweak the blog design. I don't make money on the blog, so it's hard to justify forking out big bucks to make it pretty. If there is anyone out there interested in helping a sister out, maybe we could work out some sort of trade. Free advertising? Cheap labor? I'm pretty good with a sewing machine...
