filling large basecap gaps

[toolguy1000]

with almost all of the basement trim done, I'm now looking forward to caulking nail holes and trim gaps. but a few of the base cap lengths have gaps of between 1/4 and 5/16" in the middle of some short runs, which, of course, fade to no gap at the inside and outside corners. this is compliments of the taper who taped the room. what has anyone used successfully to fill such large gaps? i realize i could just keep pumping caulk into the gap, but that seems to be both wasteful and really amateurish. backer rod comes to mind, if i can find it up here. any other ideas?

[mpc]

I had a few similar spots in my new house... areas where the walls and baseboards didn't agree on the definition of "straight"

In a few spots the previous owners used caulk. That didn't work too well - paint didn't stick to it and/or was flaking off. Where the paint was gone the not-quite-white caulk really stood out and looked horrible - almost like old/used chewing gum used as filler. I ended up scraping all of the caulk out.

Options that I used:
1: in some areas, a little wallboard/spackle paste filled the gaps well enough. I just used a fingertip to stuff in it there and smooth it out. Some areas I painted it the same as the baseboards, others I used the wall color... whichever seemed to disappear better.

2: some areas I just let the nails pull the baseboards into agreement with the wall. Most of time this was okay/not really visible.

3: some areas where the walls clearly had a bow in them... and making the baseboards follow the walls left very visible/obvious waviness in the baseboards (i.e. a long wall that you see almost edge-on when entering a room... in my case the dining area from the front living room) I instead padded the bottom foot or so of the wall with wallboard paste to straighten the wall near the baseboard. Basically filling in the bow from baseboard level to about a foot high. Took a few built-up layers of paste to do this in one spot but most weren't as bad as it sounds. Then I had to re-texture those areas to match the rest of the walls. So far nobody has noticed and pointed out "what happened there?" or "why does that look odd?"

mpc

[herb fellows]

Yeah, caulk is a 'fix it again in 6 months' solution. It's just not meant to bridge a gap like that. If you can get under it a bit with a really thin piece of metal, maybe you can feather it out a bit? The smaller gap you have to caulk, the more likely it will succeed, but even when painted it still gets worn or dirty differently from the painted wall, so you will probably have to touch up the paint on the caulk at least every 6 months or so.
As for backer rod, if you end up using it, it's available at Sears. You'll probably have to look for it yourself, asking most associates in Sears will get you a blank stare.

[All Thumbs]

Looks like whatever framing that was attached to the walls wasn't shimmed out properly in that spot. Shimming is typically necessary because basement walls aren't always flat.

I'd be inclined to remove the base and drywall, shim the framing flat, then install new drywall and put the base back. Depending on how the framing is attached to the walls and floor, you will probably find yourself shimming between the framing and drywall, instead of between the framing and the wall.

Caulk could work. Make sure it is LATEX caulk. Modern acrylic paints will stick to latex caulk fine. The DAP latex tub/tile caulk is great for paint adhesion.

But I think in the long run, the shimming would look nicer.

[JimD]

At this point I think caulk is your best option. I prefer to put a trim head screw into the middle of a run like that and suck it down to 1/8 or less. Or I sand off some joint compound where the trim will go (actually you could do this if you are willing to take the trim off). I'm not sure you can use a screw to suck it closer to the wall, however, because it will mess up your miters. If you coped it at the ends, that may still be a possibility. If you have nothing else to screw to you can screw into the baseplate of the wall.

I like white lightening caulk. It is cheap and it shrinks a lot but it goes on quickly and takes paint well. For a large gap, two applications (at least) are likely to be necessary. Backer rod will save you some caulk but I don't see anything else it will do for you. Maybe make the caulk more flexible (because the middle is thinner) but I rarely use it. If you don't have gaps at the time you paint my experience is you will not until at least next winter when the indoor humidity is very low. In my experience nothing stops some gaps from forming then.

Jim

[eezlock]

filling large basecap gaps?

This is another alternative and probably not the answer to your problem, but, may be a better alternative. (1) add an additional molding on the top of the base board or (2) just to fill in those gaps you could use a 1/4" or 5/16" dowel
rod cut and installed above the base board and then sanded and painted
as you like.

[JSUPreston]

I ran into a couple of spots like that in my old house. I've just put a little bit of premixed mud in the gap, and then painted it the same as the baseboard. Has held up well for me for a long time. Some of those spots are about due for repainting, since those rooms were painted about 10 years ago.

BTW: the most straight, level stuff in my house is what I've built over the years. We're on a crawl space, and when I built a set of cabinets/shelves in the living room 2 years ago, I measured at least 1/2 to 3/4 drop over a span of 6'! The fish tank we had in the room at the time really told the tale (or tail ).