Replies

1. 
   jlyda | May 31, 2020 08:28am | #1

   Painters can and often do the caulking. Some may be better than others at tooling hard to tool caulking. For small jobs my painter typically handles it as waiting/adding one more sub does not add benefit to the time line or budget. I have a couple dedicated caulking contractors that I use for whole house type projects. They are amazingly fast and the work is clean. My experience with caulk only subs is that the lower bid contractor is best. This may be totally unique to my experience. Caulking is a job that does not take a lot of brain power, but technique and experience go a long way. I’ve found the good one’s can tool a joint in half the time, therefore usually about half the cost of others. Also, a lot of the contractors I use do both commercial and residential. The commercial contractors in your area may not advertise in residential, but do work residential as well, so reach out to a few of them. If they do not work on residential chances are they know who does. Also, reach out to the companies that do driveway crack sealing, they may caulk homes as well. Or again, they may know someone that does.

2. 
   andy_engel | May 31, 2020 08:29am | #2

   Interesting question. The WRB behind the siding (brick and stucco are siding) should make waterproofing the outer layer nearly a moot point. Matt Risinger's video here is a good explanation: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2013/03/06/best-practices-methods-for-installing-brick-or-stone-veneer

   That's not to say good sealing shouldn't be done, and I know it's its own line item in commercial construction. It simply isn't taken seriously on most residential jobs. Unless you can get a commercial sub in, you as the builder should probably take responsibility. Here's a piece some hack (me) wrote in the magazine a few years back: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2015/11/25/the-complete-guide-to-caulk

3. 
   holla09 | Jun 03, 2020 06:34am | #3

   Thanks guys, that was what I suspected. We use zip sheathing which aids well in primary waterproofing but I always like the secondary joint sealants for the facade since water seems to always find a way in.