Replies

1. 
   davidmeiland | Mar 21, 2004 01:33am | #1

   What's the trim material and where was it stored prior to installation?

1. 
   opsahl | Mar 21, 2004 04:52am | #3

   poplar, stored in the house (unconditioned)

   thanks

1. 
   RW | Mar 21, 2004 05:13am | #5

   that one doesn't make your job any easier. Ideally, the trim can sit in the house and acclimate for a couple of weeks. Yeah right, like that ever happens. But stored cold, put on the walls cold, and it's new construction so it's going to shift and settle on you anyway - best you can do is work from the outside corners back to the copes and spring them tight. Remember, if you don't bust the tape in the corners, it ain't tight enough! :-) That's fair considering how much grief most trim guys take from the drywall crew, ain't it?"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

2. 
   Piffin | Mar 21, 2004 02:17am | #2

   What is caulk?

   OK seriously,

   When you said re-caulk the joints, you implied that you had already used caulk in the joints.

   You do know that caulk is not a piece of trim, right? You want to cut and fit joints when installing so that the mating surfaces can get each other pregnant. Then glue and nail. The line will be almost invisible and caulk will not be an option. Start with wood that has been dry and stored inside, and by the time you are using it, you are OK

   So all of that is for next time.

   This time, you have a problem - caulk can shrink back too.

   Waiting through one full heating season is the safest thing to do for it to be all stabilized, but I'm supposing this is a new house and you have to get closing on it to move somebody in, so go ahead and give it two-three weks and get the tip cut off that caulking gun....

   use a Latex painter's caulk and keep a rag handy with a small bucket of water. Use the rag damp - not dripping wet - to wipe the excess and you can end up with the only caulk showing being right in the joint and not smeared all over kingdom come.

   Them touch up the paint. If you leave caulk exposed without painting over it, it will yellow with time.

   Good luck.

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   opsahl | Mar 21, 2004 05:12am | #4

   Wow, I've never seen anyone glue crown molding around here in south Carolina.

   I quit an architectural position to start a design / build firm.

   I suppose our standards are subpar. I thought my standards were above average until I read your response,

   I continue to pick the brain of fellow contractors around here for tips on building a top notch house (you wouldn't believe how cheap some things are built).

   Anyway, this issue of opening joints has always been a concern of mine, The common answer has been that the trim will open up and need to be re-caulked.

   My trim man did a great job with the joints (until the heat came on). I'll do a quick survey next week asking who glue/nails crown molding

   Thanks for your input,  Always good to be reminded that I may not be a good as I think. 

   Thanks, Eric

1. 
   xMikeSmith | Mar 21, 2004 05:27am | #6

   oops.... this is march.. your heat has been on since when .... November ?

   your house , framing, trim , furniture, and your  nasal passages could very well be suffering from  extremely low humidity..

    test the RH with a sling psychrometer..that's for the air you breathe

    test the moisture level of your trim. with a moisture meter......... your floors and your framing.. if it's below about 15% mebbe even as low as say  6%.. you have a problem.. you have to humidify your space..

   you can seal  your house so you aren't getting as many air changes per hour. or you can add a humidifier and get it back up to a healthy level.. air with an RH of about 40%....

    wood above 15%

   some of the people that ask me about cracks and trim joints ... and cracked plaster...

    have joists that have shrunk almost 1/2" every heating season.. then they  swell back up after spring and a moist summer..Mike Smith   Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

2. 
   Piffin | Mar 21, 2004 09:09pm | #9

   I'm not as good as I think either, but I keep getting better. We always glue our joints anywhere that openning is possible. Inside of a tight fit coped basemboard is one where we don't need to. mitred head casing and crowns are most susceptable to needing it. Some guys even go to the point of using a biscuit.

   Look for Coillins clamps for your trim guy to use.

   I would indeed believe the low standards down there. I have a brother and a BIL both working opposite ends of the state. Brother's name is Eric too - trimming in the Anderson area. I hear about the work their competitors do as being par for the course and I have a client here who lives in Atlanta in winter and spends too much time at Hilton Head golfing. He constantly expresses amazement that the work here is so vastly different than he sees there.

   sorry about the implications, I was responding to things presented in the first post. new to building implied a lack of experience. We all learn from our mistakes - or are condemned to repeat them. 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

3. 
   Fitzcarpentr | Mar 21, 2004 08:54am | #7

   Dear Oops,

   NEVER, EVER, even entertain the idea of installing trim in a house before the contractor has had the heat on for at least a week, AT LEAST! I have installed COLD poplar in a warm house and have had no shrinkage to speak of. Poplar is too stable to fault for such contraction unless stored on a concrete floor, if so, then thats another story. But if stored flat on a rack or on a dry wood floor it should be OK.

   The problems arise when you take into consideration that when a a house was framed cold, exposed to rain and snow, sealed tight, and then is finally heated all that moisture is warmed, activated, then dissapates...these are dynamics best left for NASA to explain. I'm surprised the walls were even finished before it was heated.

   Bottom line, and I'm sure most guys here will agree, to build a quality home, there are certain steps that just cannot be breached. you cannot trim a cold house, reguardless of material.

1. 
   DaveRicheson | Mar 21, 2004 04:26pm | #8

   Glad to see your response.

   Back in the dark ages, when I started, the rule was no trim or paint unless the house was above 40 degrees F, prefferably 50. Interior doors and trim were acclimated to the conditions for at least a week. Those conditions needed to be maintained for several months, even after the homes were finished. That seldom happened.

   No one wants to pay the heating bill for an unoccupied house, and they expect free repairs on call backs that could have been avoided. I use to stipulate conditions in contract language before trimming any house. Then I switched to doing repair work when the builders could not get thier trim man to fix his screw up. With other repairs needed because of cold houses, it was fairly lucrative.

   Dave