Painting Tip 101
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| Painting Tip 101 |
Cal Phillips here again, owner of Eco Paint, Inc. w/35+ years experience, I want to once in for all, put in written form which product to use covering voids of substrates.
Way too many times I've seen improper use of both Spackle and caulk, and will examine both, for the first painting tip.
A. Spackel-ing, Spackle, is a lightweight compound, in a tub/bucket container, which dries quickly, to a flat finish, either used interior or exterior.
B. Caulk is typically a latex based, silicone embodied caulk in a tube container, which dries within several hours, to a dry paint-able, gloss finish.
Caulking guns can easily dispense large quantities of compound at a quick speed, which makes this way too easy to fill voids that should be filled with Spackle, which takes much more time for a smooth, uniform finish.
Main point is that Caulk should be administered in cracks where two substrates come together at usually a 90 degree angle. Caulk should not be used in nail holes on an exterior or interior wall. Weathered exterior siding, nails will appear to be sunken in, as to the nail-gun had too much air pressure, which is certainly not the case. What is going on is exterior paint has broken down, moisture getting into nail shafts, swelling Masonite siding like a sponge. Nails to not move, as the siding has been seen to swell twice it's thickness. Although the siding is in dire need of replacement at some point in the near future, caulking should never be used filling nail heads. What happens if caulk is used, and 15-25 years later when exterior paint that once had a satin finish, now has a flat sheen, areas that were caulked will still be shiny and polka-dotted, shiny spots on a flat wall. This is true even on interior wall surfaces, Spackle should be used in a open surface area, and not caulk.
Knowing many painting contractors do a great job in the Denver area, with all the new contractors picking up a brush, this is one thing that should not be done at any circumstance, making the surface worse in the long run far more than leaving as is. Both products seal nail holes, but one is made for this, and the other is not.
Good Luck,
Cal Phillips/owner
Eco Paint, Inc.
303.591.4978
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