ArcaMax

I’ve been sharing with you the wonderful saga of my son’s basement remodeling project in past columns. Together, he and I have transformed 1,100 square feet of bare basement into five large rooms and a full bathroom. We’ve done all the work ourselves, and only work on Saturdays.

It’s now time to paint the baseboards, door trim, and the doors. All of that material came primed from the factory, so that saves us a step.

That said, hours of work need to be invested before we pop open the can of semi-gloss white paint we’ll use. We have to spackle hundreds of finish nail holes, and we have to caulk hundreds of feet of tiny cracks along the trim to achieve professional results.

This preparation work requires much more skill than what the average person might think is necessary. A few days ago I witnessed what happens when you don’t take the time to do things right.

I try to keep my golf swing in shape over the harsh New Hampshire winters. I do that each week by playing a round of golf on an advanced simulator at my local course. The owner is doing extensive remodeling of the interior of the building before the season opens in April.

A new door and trim were installed at the men’s restroom entrance over the past two weeks. Days ago, a worker spackled the finish nail holes. It looks like to me he applied the paste with a snow shovel instead of a 1-inch wide flexible putty knife. Extra spackle was left all around each nail hole, and he didn’t fill the nail holes completely.

I also saw an amateur attempt at applying caulk where the trim touches up against the new drywall. The caulk was smeared with all sorts of excess caulk left on both the trim and the drywall. It was a mess.

The process of applying both spackle and caulk requires a pinch of hand-eye coordination mixed with attention to detail. I’ve come to the conclusion that many who work with these materials have never been trained. I feel they’ve not been taught the steps required to achieve professional results.

Spackle is fairly easy to apply. Premixed spackling compound is much like drywall joint compound. It’s the consistency of cool cake icing. I feel you get the best results working with a small, flexible putty knife when spackling small finish nail holes.

You should use a non-shrink spackle compound. These water-based products are available at most home centers and high-end paint stores. Your goal is to apply just enough spackle to fill the nail hole.

I use the following technique. I use the putty knife to get about 1/4 teaspoon of spackle from the container. There’s no need to load up the putty knife with lots of excess spackle.

I then press the spackle into the nail hole by flexing the putty knife blade. I try to force the spackle in as far as possible. There is excess on the trim at this point. I then remove the excess with a stroke that’s perpendicular to the direction I applied it. The goal is to have no excess spackle on the wood trim. This makes sanding much easier once the spackle is dry.

I always use a sponge-filled sanding block to sand the spackled holes. Use one with the finest grit so you don’t leave scratches in the wood trim. Brush off the dust before you paint.

Caulking is more difficult than spackling, in my opinion. It’s critical to apply the perfect amount of caulk to the crack. This is done by controlling the size of the hole in the tip of the caulk tube and regulating the rate of fill by the amount of pressure applied to squeeze the caulk from the tube, as well as moving the caulk tube along the crack. Move the tube too quickly along the crack, and not enough caulk will fill in the crack. Move too slowly, and excess caulk will ooze out around the tip. You also need to hold the caulk gun/tube at a low, oblique angle.

I should also mention there’s a big difference in the quality of caulk guns. The cheap ones cause the plunger to push into the caulk tube too fast. These guns typically have notches on the plunger rod. I use a gun that has a smooth plunger rod. The plunger only travels a very short distance as I slowly squeeze the gun handle. It’s a dream to use.

Your proficiency can rise to the level where there is no excess caulk to wipe off with your finger or a smoothing tool. That’s your goal. It can take many hours of practice to achieve results like this. You’ll probably have some excess as you wipe your finger across the fresh caulk. Don’t allow the excess to wrap around your finger. Pull your finger away and use the excess to fill the crack that’s yet to be caulked.

Once you’ve smoothed the caulk, you now wipe the joint with a damp grout sponge. You want to remove all traces of caulk except for what’s in the crack. Don’t press too hard, or you’ll dig out caulk, creating a recess.

My recommendation is for you to practice caulking before you advance to the trim you just installed at your home. Glue a few pieces of scrap trim to a scrap piece of drywall. Practice filling the cracks where the trim ends on the drywall. Soon you’ll get the hang of using your gun and the sponge.

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