Woodworking Building a Home The Old House

New caulk cracking on cedar siding

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

A carpenter finished a little addition for us two weeks ago. It is clad in cedar lap siding, which I’m going to paint.

I was prepping to do that today and I saw that a lot of the caulk he applied is cracking, especially where the lap siding meets the vertical corner pieces. These corner pieces and window and door trim are all pressure treated pine I believe. There is also one gap about 1/2“ wide and about 4’ high that is filled with caulk.

I’m mostly doing some sanding in areas to prepare the surface for primer and paint. Should I also re-caulk? Is it ok to sand the caulk where it’s lumpy or sloppy looking?

I thought I was in the home stretch and am now very discouraged.

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Comments (3)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
5 years ago
Recallk it, paint, and forget about it please.
serenityvoss thanked Joseph Corlett, LLC
millworkman
5 years ago
Is the pressure treated pine kiln dried? If not and it is fresh wood paint will not stick to it right away. It is treated with a liquid and needs to dry out for 6 months to a year if you want the paint to stick. The reason the caulk is cracking is due to the different wood types moving at different rates. What caulk did he use?
serenityvoss thanked millworkman
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PRO
Charles Ross Homes
5 years ago
Carpenters don't caulk stuff. Painters do. I imagine sink installation contractors have caulking expertise, too.

Your siding should have been completely primed on all sides and any cut edges should have been primed or sealed prior to installation and certainly prior to application of any caulk. If your corner boards are, in fact, treated material, you may have trouble getting paint to adhere well.
serenityvoss thanked Charles Ross Homes