# Do you have caulk along your kitchen baseboards?



## B'sgirl (Jul 31, 2008)

Just wondering because the people who put linoleum in my parents' house put caulk along the bottom to seal any gaps. Whoever built my house did a crappy job with the tile and baseboards so I have huge gaps everywhere where the ants come in and I wonder if I should seal it off with caulk. I think it's a bit unconventional though, so I'm deciding which will bring down the value of the house more, the caulk or the gaps.


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## quicksilver (Jul 31, 2008)

As there is no such thing as a square wall, caulk is the solution to a multitude of sins.
Your best bet is to go with a latex/acrylic, as it shinks and expands with hot and cold. And it's water clean up while wet. It may dry to touch and is paintable in 24 hours, but it really cures in 5-7 days, depending on humidity and how wide you lay your bead down.
Silicone does not shrink or expand and is not water clean up and is not paintable. But is good in bath, or water areas. Usually it is more expensive.
Gaps are never good. Critters, dirt.
If you match the color as close as you can, caulk becomes invisible. You'll always be more critical, knowing it's there, but others won't notice.
Altough I'm saying this not knowing how big your gaps are.
Good luck.
​


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## babetoo (Jul 31, 2008)

just put in new kitchen and bathroom latex tile floors. handy man used silicone for sealing out moisture. 

babe


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## Maverick2272 (Jul 31, 2008)

Baseboards?? What baseboards?? LOL If I had em I would caulk em yes. Then if necessary paint them to match the baseboards. It is easier with wood floors as sometimes you can use quarter round to hide the gaps, but tiles will always have gaps between them where the grout is as the grout is not as high as the tile.
Did that make sense?? LOL.


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## Maverick2272 (Jul 31, 2008)

PS I voted Yes just because I would caulk in a kitchen or bathroom even though right now nothing is caulked... its all falling apart ;(


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## LT72884 (Aug 1, 2008)

B'sgirl said:


> Just wondering because the people who put linoleum in my parents' house put caulk along the bottom to seal any gaps. Whoever built my house did a crappy job with the tile and baseboards so I have huge gaps everywhere where the ants come in and I wonder if I should seal it off with caulk. I think it's a bit unconventional though, so I'm deciding which will bring down the value of the house more, the caulk or the gaps.



It wont bring down the value of the house, well not in Draper it wont. If you were to try and sell your house, people would ask if there has been any watter damage because the gaps allow water to hit the subflooring. We had to replace our entire kitchen and bathroom floors because of this very issue. if you were to loose any value it would be very little. The trick is to get a good bead, its alot like welding. I have had alot of practice at both so im pretty good at it. That was not a hint. LOL


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## Elf (Aug 1, 2008)

Even with tile I think I would run a bead of caulk, then cover with 1/4 round. Quarter round just gives finished look to the  base cabinets. They sell a 1/4 round made out of some type of paintable plastic that is very flexible, if you have any weird radius to do. I bought some at Home Depot


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## Jeekinz (Aug 1, 2008)

There's no need to caulk between the flooring and the base moulding. But it's normal to caulk between the base moulding and the wall, and the vertical joints (if there are any) at the corners...if the trim is painted obviously.

Caulk where it's green, not where it's red.


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## Maverick2272 (Aug 1, 2008)

LT72884 said:


> I have had alot of practice at both so im pretty good at it. That was not a hint. LOL



And here I was hoping it was exactly that and I could lure you out here... my beads are never even... ugg!


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## bethzaring (Aug 2, 2008)

we have no caulk.  We have hardwood floors with the toe board? kick board? butting right on the hardwood flooring.


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## kitchenelf (Aug 2, 2008)

Jeekinz said:


> There's no need to caulk between the flooring and the base moulding. But it's normal to caulk between the base moulding and the wall, and the vertical joints (if there are any) at the corners...if the trim is painted obviously.
> 
> Caulk where it's green, not where it's red.



We need to talk about your painters and/or what you are drinking when you are painting - and colors ...srsly!


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## Fisher's Mom (Aug 2, 2008)

kitchenelf said:


> We need to talk about your painters and/or what you are drinking when you are painting - and colors ...srsly!


I was thinking the same thing!


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## Fisher's Mom (Aug 2, 2008)

Elf said:


> Even with tile I think I would run a bead of caulk, then cover with 1/4 round. Quarter round just gives finished look to the  base cabinets. They sell a 1/4 round made out of some type of paintable plastic that is very flexible, if you have any weird radius to do. I bought some at Home Depot


That's what I do - a baseboard and then quarter round trim. The resin stuff is great since the color goes clear through and it is flexible enough to accommodate uneven floors. I only caulk on the top of the baseboard and the top of the quarter round.


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## Jeekinz (Aug 3, 2008)

kitchenelf said:


> We need to talk about your painters and/or what you are drinking when you are painting - and colors ...srsly!


 
LOL...does that look like it would be in my house?


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## Fisher's Mom (Aug 3, 2008)

Jeekinz said:


> LOL...does that look like it would be in my house?


We were joking - your house looks like it could be in a magazine! (I'm especially fond of the pumpkin kitchen since my livingroom is that exact same color!)


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## Jeekinz (Aug 3, 2008)

Fisher's Mom said:


> We were joking - your house looks like it could be in a magazine! (I'm especially fond of the pumpkin kitchen since my livingroom is that exact same color!)


 
I know, LOL. 

Pumpkin?  Thats a first.


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## Maverick2272 (Aug 3, 2008)

Fisher's Mom said:


> That's what I do - a baseboard and then quarter round trim. The resin stuff is great since the color goes clear through and it is flexible enough to accommodate uneven floors. I only caulk on the top of the baseboard and the top of the quarter round.



That is interesting. I have very uneven walls so caulking the tops of the baseboard is a necessity, but while the top of the quarter round always fit flush and therefore didn't need caulk, the bottom did as there were gaps between the tiles (where the grout is) and without the caulk water could seep thru those gaps along the floor. Anyone else encounter this?
My problem is the wife wants wood trim throughout the rest of the house, and again the walls are very uneven, so I am not sure what to do there. I am being told I should put in wood putty to fill it in?


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## Jeekinz (Aug 3, 2008)

Uneven walls add charachter.

Dont caulk the tile floor to base moulding.


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## B'sgirl (Aug 3, 2008)

Okay, here's the problem. Solution, anyone? Jeeks? I'm sick of the ants, and of my kid smashing them.


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## Maverick2272 (Aug 4, 2008)

See, I would be very inclined to caulk that up as I don't think quarter round would do the trick well enough.


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## Jeekinz (Aug 4, 2008)

1/4 round will work on the cabinet.  As for the base moulding, the one piece of tile in the corner wasn't set properly.  If you want it perfectly flush, you would need to scribe the moulding using a set of dividers or a compass.  Then shape the bottom of the trim to fit flush against the floor.  The very last pic looks like you could push the trim down to meet the floor. 

If it's too much work, I suppose you could use caulk.  Or leave it be and get some ant spray.  The apartment I used to live in would get crickets....I absolutely despise crickets.  I applied one of those perimeter sprays and it seemed to work pretty good.


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## B'sgirl (Aug 4, 2008)

Jeekinz said:


> 1/4 round will work on the cabinet.  As for the base moulding, the one piece of tile in the corner wasn't set properly.  If you want it perfectly flush, you would need to scribe the moulding using a set of dividers or a compass.  Then shape the bottom of the trim to fit flush against the floor.  The very last pic looks like you could push the trim down to meet the floor.
> 
> If it's too much work, I suppose you could use caulk.  Or leave it be and get some ant spray.  The apartment I used to live in would get crickets....I absolutely despise crickets.  I applied one of those perimeter sprays and it seemed to work pretty good.



Wow, that sounds complicated. I'm not sure what scribe means or what you would do with dividers or a compass, or what it means to fit flush--but maybe DH will. I would like to do this thing right if I can though. I've tried an indoor and an outdoor barrier spray, but somehow they keep coming back in--just not as bad. I'm beginning to wonder if they just live under the tile and come up where the tile and carpet meets.Hmmm, I see two ants there right now. Anyway, the people who lived here last thought they'd save money by doing everything themselves so the place is falling apart. 

Anyway, so the bar and all the cupboard linings look the same as the one in the picture. And you're saying a 1/4 round would do the trick for those? And my base boards are actually caulked on the top. It looks like they're set in place pretty well, is it really possible to adjust any of them? (The people who did this all had an obsession with this really strong wood glue and it is everywhere, I'm afraid they may have glued the baseboards to the wall with it. They even used it to put up wall paper in one room!!!)


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## Jeekinz (Aug 4, 2008)

Ugh.  If they used construction adhesive, you're screwed.  There's no way to remove something without damaging everything that was stuck to it.  So you would be repairing walls, etc.  

Here's an option.  Look at an interior door jamb.  The trim that the door butts up to is called "door stop moulding".  You could scribe, then run something simillar to that along the floor in front of the existing trim.  Like a built up moulding.  You could try it with 3/4" quarter round but it may be a little difficult.

Here's how you scribe using a compass.  Set the compass equal to the widest gap. Use a coping saw or even a sanding block to shape the trim.  Back bevel it a couple degrees for a nice finished look.


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## B'sgirl (Aug 4, 2008)

Thanks! Looks like I've got a real fun project for a rainy day. (Or a really hot one since it doesn't rain here). Thanks for the tips!


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## Jeekinz (Aug 4, 2008)

Here's what you want to end up with:


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## B'sgirl (Aug 4, 2008)

Ooh, thanks for the picture, that helps a lot!

And here is the reason for this thread--here are the ants feasting on a dropped piece of zucchini bread: (Not sure what to do to keep ants out of this broken place under the counter).


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## attie (Aug 4, 2008)

Jeekins is certainly giving giving the right advise, what a shame they didn't take more care, scribing a new baseboard is a devil of a job but about the only way you can do it other than puling the boards off and starting again. Other than using a compass you could lay a thin block on the floor, about the same thickness a the widest gap, and use that as a scriber.





  you still have the problem of the top being uneven though.


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