You might think that you can't clean up your entire house in 15 minutes for 15 dollars. You might think that's an impossible accomplishment but I can tell you with my hand held over my heart that you are absolutely right.
It's impossible. A hoax. A dream or fantasy like riding a unicorn into a field of money trees.
You can however spruce up your house enough to make you feel good about how handy and great you are.
Take a minute right now if you're at home to look at your baseboards and window trim and your crown mouldings. If you're at someone else's home do the same. Don't even do it discreetly because what's the point? Whoever you're visiting is already annoyed with you for ignoring them and reading this blog post you thought was going to be about taking dirty. Take a look at anything that touches the home's drywall (sheetrock) basically. You're probably staring down a bunch of gaps and cracks.
Yes. Your home has gaps and cracks.
You probably hadn't even noticed them before. And now you're in a foul mood because you have gaps and cracks you never noticed before and what ELSE are you not noticing in your house?
Probably lots of things, including weird smells, but that's not what we're going to address today.
Allow me to introduce you to the caulking gun and the Kim to its Kanye, caulk. (Somebody remind me to change that line when they get divorced in year or two)
One step a lot of people skip when they're painting is filling in cracks around baseboards and trim; either because they can't be bothered to do it or because their mother never talked to them about caulks.
So I'm here to do what your mother didn't do.
You only need two things to fill these kinds of gaps in your house. A caulking gun and some caulk. Now this is the point that the uninitiated start to get intimidated. A little film of anxiety sweat is forming on your upper lip.
What kind of caulk??? There are at least 50 kinds of caulking in that hardware store aisle, I KNOW there are because once I accidentally walked down that aisle and it scared me and I left and I didn't even remember to buy the only thing I went in there for, a scented candle, Christmas lights and a bulk bag of Beef Jerky.
So what kind of caulking do you want?
YOU WANT ACRYLIC LATEX CAULK PLUS SILICONE.
Let's break it down.
Acrylic/Latex means it's water based which means it's easy to clean up and will wash right off your hands or wall if you get to it before it cures.
Plus Silicone means it has a bit of silicone added to it which makes it smooth to put on, waterproof and helps it stick. It isn't ALL silicone. It just has a tiny bit of silicone added to it.
If you buy a product that's an Acrylic Latex caulking with silicone you'll also be guaranteed that it's paintable, but check the label just to make sure.
See how easy? Now you can put your high heels on, swipe a slash of lipstick across your mouth and march confidently down the caulking aisle to grab exactly what you need. YOU can go to the hardware store.
Here's how it all works.
The best time to go around with your caulking gun is after your first coat of paint because you can see a bit better where it is you need to put the caulking. After it's dried you can paint right over it so it blends right in with the ceiling or walls.
And if you're thinking to yourself, "HA! JOKE'S ON YOU KAREN! I CAULKED EVERYTHING WHEN I PAINTED 5 YEARS AGO. YOU'RE SO STUPID.", think again. Not the part about me being stupid, sometimes I'm so stupid it's funny. No, what I mean is that houses continually shift and move and shrink. So take another look at your baseboards. Chances are the cracks have returned at least a little bit. They're annoying like that.
A caulking gun will cost you around $10 and some paintable caulk around $3. This is the exact caulking I use which is $10 on Amazon but only $2.50 at my local hardware store.
So if you live in a cave hundreds of miles away from civilization that happens to have drywall because drywall always improves the resale value of dirty caves, by all means buy it from Amazon.
Otherwise just go to a hardware store.
Still have readers getting tips after all these years. Kudos !
It took more than 2 years, but alas the "Kim to it's Kanye" line has run it's course! Although maybe it's worth keeping it in there since caulk eventually starts to separate as well....
I knew that line was in there (someone else alerted me to it) but it just kills me to take it out, lol. Maybe I'll just do a notation. Excellent point about the separation, lol! ~ karen
Pro Tip - Don’t walk into the hardware store and ask “Where’s your caulk?”
Always ask for caulking. 😂
Thanks for the video. This worked perfectly on the crack of our table. Very helpful.
I'm also from Australia, and Spakfilla is what my Dad used to call the stuff older ladies put on their face to fill the 'cracks'.
Ahhh, Dad jokes....
What if you're allergic to latex? My reaction isn't fatal, but it's certainly uncomfortable.
I would say get some disposable non-latex gloves (nitrile?) so it doesn't get on your hands and be careful to not get it elsewhere on your skin.
Oh, you dirty talker you.
When you said "break the seal," while talking about caulk..... THAT was my favorite.
Is there anything that can be used on dark wood trim to seal cracks? I was thinking maybe clear caulk, but not sure if it would look better applied after painting the walls, rather than before as with white, to make sure the paint line isn't wonky.
Thanks for the video!! My husband is very particular about painting and then caulking everything precisely. It makes me feel intimidated as he's so good at both. Now I feel like I'm in "the know" and could do an ok job myself. Also, he's spends so much time caulking our house that I have regular opportunities to fit the word "caulk" into the conversation as frequently as possible around three male teenager!! Always makes me laugh when I can get them to beg me to stop!!! ?
Lol - I love embarrassing/shocking my somewhat-adult kids too. They may be chronologically adults, but they're all stuck in middle-school-mentality mode (I guess this would include my husband as well). I may have to take up caulking just to have another excuse to bug them. :)
good post
What's your method for saving unused caulk? I put a nail in the tip of the tube, but I'm not sure that's the best method.
Because I am at work I am watching the video with the sound muted. It's very funny. It's like watching old home movies. It's especially entertaining given you are demonstrating cocking guns.