# Filling a big gap.



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

The GC pulled the baseboard off to put new flooring down. One of his guys didn't pay attention to where the boards went.

My question is would any of you caulk the big gap between the floor and baseboard. This job is over an hour drive and no way do I want to own this when it fails. It was like this throughout the basement. What a butcher job if you ask me.

Yes this is the same GC as our pain in the arse Somerville job.

The gc refuses to pay, saying I did a hack job.

In all my 20+ yrs of painting I have never caulked the baseboard to the floor.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

By the way I did this job Friday, the gc said he was so mad he just hired another painter to fix this.


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## PRC (Aug 28, 2014)

You caulk it you might end up owning a floor. You didn't make the mistake!


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## PRC (Aug 28, 2014)

cdpainting said:


> By the way I did this job Friday, the gc said he was so mad he just hired another painter to fix this.


Doesn't sound like the kind of GC you want to keep building a relationship with. He just wants someone to "fix" his mistakes instead of pulling the base and reinstalling it properly. Honestly it looks like he didn't level that sub floor right. Unless the base looks like a well beaten snake in another spot.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

The base was in decent shape except where they pulled nails. 

PCR No I did not caulk it, I knew if I did I owned it. This is the last job we do for these hacks. Wait until I post pics of the commercial jobs trim. I'm scratching my head still. Another butcher job.

Sorry I can not make a turd into a palace.


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## PremierPaintingMa (Nov 30, 2014)

If you going to caulk use Pro Stretch Acrylic Urethane Elastomeric Sealant, Make sure you put blue tape on floor first.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

It may be my screen, it may be my crappy eyes, but is there really that big of a dip in the flooring?? That's what looks alarming to me.


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## LA Painter (Jul 28, 2009)

It needs a quarter round or base shoe moulding - either painted or stained to match the floor.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

That's a load of crap, and there's no way whatsoever that's your fault in any way shape or fashion. I'd be telling the GC to talk to his carpenters or flooring guys who didn't use floor leveling compound OR didn't scribe the base so it doesn't look so horrible. This is one of those classic situations where the carpenters tell the painters to "use their half inch paint" to fix the mistakes made in installation.

I honestly don't see any way caulking is going to provide an acceptable solution to a gap like that. Quarter round or base shoe would certainly fix the problem, but some people hate the look of quarter round because it looks like some carpenter was trying to hide something they didn't do properly.

Hope you eventually get paid for this, and if you do wait til the cheque clears then never answer the phone again if that GC is calling.

This happened on the last job I was working on. GC asked if there was anything I could do about it. When I said 'not without making it stick out like a sore thumb', he put one of his finishers on it to scribe the base without screwing up the joint at the other ends. Somehow, the kid managed to at least reduce the gap to an acceptable level.

This was a good thing because he'd just found out that one of the electricians had dropped a drill right in the middle of the floor in the master bedroom. Bit landed first. Took a nice gouge out of the hickory flooring. He didn't need more to worry about.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

This story isn't believable. Either your lying or this guy is just messing with you. 

Did you ask him if he was joking? I think he's joking.


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## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeh. That is a big 'no way' is it ur problem or ur fix, CD. 
And you know that already.
Crazy.


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## PremierPaintingMa (Nov 30, 2014)

epretot said:


> This story isn't believable. Either your lying or this guy is just messing with you.
> 
> Did you ask him if he was joking? I think he's joking.


:no:


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## SemiproJohn (Jul 29, 2013)

I would never caulk something like that. Ever. Never Ever.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Is that a dip in the slab? If so I have caulked them before on commercial jobs. Did he want you to caulk the whole place free. 

I love it when a GC gets asked by an owner for the baseboard to be caulked. They suddenly act like that is how its supposed to be done and it should always get caulked. Just like Daves or Carley's post. :shifty:


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

straight_lines said:


> Is that a dip in the slab? If so I have caulked them before on commercial jobs. Did he want you to caulk the whole place free.
> 
> I love it when a GC gets asked by an owner for the baseboard to be caulked. They suddenly act like that is how its supposed to be done and it should always get caulked. Just like Daves or Carley's post. :shifty:


I'm assuming it's a dip in the slab. As WildBill posted, floor guys didn't use enough levelling compound. If it's a wood-framed floor, that's really nasty.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Gough said:


> It may be my screen, it may be my crappy eyes, but is there really that big of a dip in the flooring?? That's what looks alarming to me.


The floor looked wavey in about 7 places. The base had gaps like this, this one being slightly worse than the others.



epretot said:


> This story isn't believable. Either your lying or this guy is just messing with you.
> 
> Did you ask him if he was joking? I think he's joking.


I am dead serious. The gc went back and put bondo in the gaps after I refused to touch it. I have since been called a hack, looser, one of the crappiest (nice words instead of what he really said) painters I have ever dealt with :blink. Oh yeah he also wanted to fist fight me over this.




Gough said:


> I'm assuming it's a dip in the slab. As WildBill posted, floor guys didn't use enough levelling compound. If it's a wood-framed floor, that's really nasty.


The slab like said above was bad. I don't think he even tried to level the floors.

Wait until I post pics of the commercial job trim gaps.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

The gc did say he would pay us $300 for the trim paint job. I hit the floor laughing. Said no. We had already given him a price he agreed upon. Because I refused to fix that hack work he said he wouldn't pay our price and thinks $300 is more than fare.

These 2 guys (gc partners) are both ex painters and know what stuff costs so to pull this really upsets me.

I have already started the lean process. One of the contractors is selling his house and truck right now so timing couldn't be better for a lean.

This is why we are walking away from the extras (commercial job) I posted about. The extras so far have doubled the original estimate and no end in sight.

We always try to make stuff right if given the chance. 20+ yrs This is a first for me. We have had customers hold the final payment for touch up reasons which we took care of the next day, got paid happy customer.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Fist fights and name calling. Good thing you walked from that one. Those guys don't sound like someone you want to work for ever again. I've come close, but have never been involved in the lien process. Would the guys house (i.e. personal property) be included in the process? Wouldn't that be considered separate from the business? His truck I could see as it's likely company property. I have no idea how this works.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

As of right now they are a dba. I'm not positive but what I have read them being a dba they have no real protection on their personal stuff. I called our lawyer to help us with this.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

I've caulked those before too (hack). Tape the floor, and force the caulk way back under the base, building it up from the floor to the bottom of the board.
But you wouldn't have been able to do just the wide places. You'd have to do at least the whole wall, and more than likely, the whole room.

Sorry Cd..it wasn't your fault and shouldn't have been made your problem. I vote the CG gives you what he owes you. (you can tell him I said that)


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Steve Richards said:


> I've caulked those before too (hack). Tape the floor, and force the caulk way back under the base, building it up from the floor to the bottom of the board.
> But you wouldn't have been able to do just the wide places. You'd have to do at least the whole wall, and more than likely, the whole room.
> 
> Sorry Cd..it wasn't your fault and shouldn't have been made your problem. I vote the CG gives you what he owes you. (you can tell him I said that)


That's what I was thinking too, you'd have to do the whole room. Then I wouldn't be surprised to see them say you'd have to do the entire job as that one room would stick out like a sore thumb. I have never, ever seen the bottom of baseboard caulked in the whole time I've been painting.

However, my wife did ask if I was going to do that to the baseboard in our bathroom which we redid a while back. I asked why and she responded "well, what if a water line breaks and we get flooding? That will protect things right?" My response elicited a rather quiet end to the day around the house.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I said that it wouldn't look good just caulking or patching the big gaps. After the gc applied the bondo those spots stood right out.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

Wildbill7145 said:


> However, my wife did ask if I was going to do that to the baseboard in our bathroom which we redid a while back. I asked why and she responded "well, what if a water line breaks and we get flooding? That will protect things right?" My response elicited a rather quiet end to the day around the house.


Yes..you'd wanna make your bathroom water-tight. So if you have a leak, all the water will stay in there.. until you open the door! LOL


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

cdpainting said:


> I said that it wouldn't look good just caulking or patching the big gaps. After the gc applied the bondo those spots stood right out.


You should have told him that he'd have to make the bondo patch perfectly uniform with the normal gap around the rest of the room. As well, the bottom edge will require exactly the same uniform profile as the rest of the baseboard in the room.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> I said that it wouldn't look good just caulking or patching the big gaps. After the gc applied the bondo those spots stood right out.


Never tried it, but I think Bondo would be a bad choice.
Too brittle, and vibrations just from people walking around would make 
it crack at the bottom of the base.

..but I could be wrong


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Even though I didn't want to touch it I did mention that to making it look decent he had to stay off the floor. Well he got the bondo to touch the floor. And even dropped some that he left there. I guess that's my fault as well lol.


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## Steve Richards (Dec 31, 2010)

If you could figured a way to keep the caulking off the floor, you might be able to do just the gap, and not the whole wall.
Something on the floor, that you could slide out either right after, or after the caulk dries.

How/what?

I dunno, but now I'm thinking about it.

thanks cd.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Steve Richards said:


> If you could figured a way to keep the caulking off the floor, you might be able to do just the gap, and not the whole wall.
> Something on the floor, that you could slide out either right after, or after the caulk dries.


A horizontal 1 g paint stick or one of those metal trim guides no one uses. Gotta mix the bondo just right for that to work.


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

Just curious, is it common practice in some parts of the country to _not_ use shoe mould or quarter-round with wood/tile floors?

Around here, it's standard practice.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

slinger58 said:


> Just curious, is it common practice in some parts of the country to _not_ use shoe mould or quarter-round with wood/tile floors?
> 
> Around here, it's standard practice.


In some areas, that seems to be looked upon as a hack detail, with scribed base considered the "proper" way to do it. There seems to be overlap with the places where mitered inside corners on base are viewed as _déclassé
._


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## slinger58 (Feb 11, 2013)

Gough said:


> In some areas, that seems to be looked upon as a hack detail, with scribed base considered the "proper" way to do it. There seems to be overlap with the places where mitered inside corners on base are viewed as _déclassé
> ._


As opposed to what? Coped corners, corner blocks?

BTW, thanks for helping me expand my French vocabulary.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

slinger58 said:


> As opposed to what? Coped corners, corner blocks?
> 
> BTW, thanks for helping me expand my French vocabulary.


Coped.


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## Oden (Feb 8, 2012)

Time is money
The carpenters CDS is following could have scribed/coped whatever you want to call it the bottom of that base in real nice. That is assuming any of them had the skill set. To do it. But with the skill set the process would have been time consuming. They value their time more than CD's time. 

Time is money. Hear it everyday.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

I hate my cell phone. I can't email myself pics.

I took a few pictures of some of the big gaps before we touched them. Some were 1/8"-1/2" wide.

The floor is new and wait until you see this job. They didn't even attempt to level the floor. Brand new framed walls, running your hand along it feels like your on the ocean it's so wavy.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Oden said:


> Time is money
> The carpenters CDS is following could have scribed/coped whatever you want to call it the bottom of that base in real nice. That is assuming any of them had the skill set. To do it. But with the skill set the process would have been time consuming. They value their time more than CD's time.
> 
> Time is money. Hear it everyday.


Just a detail, Oden: to be done right, the base would be scribed against the floor and coped at the corners. Scribing can be a lot slower, especially on a nasty floor like the one pictured. For a skilled mechanic, coping is about as fast as miters, for inside corners.


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## two fingers (Sep 28, 2014)

Caulk it. Just warn the GC that you can't warrant. I suggest big streach. Works good on base to floor. I've done it a bunch of times. The way the floor bows shows there is a fluctuation in temperaturein the house that's moving those boards. Not a painters fault.


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## dan-o (Sep 28, 2008)

On the plus side, the gap distracts the eyes from the nail holes in the trim that never got filled.


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## Krittterkare (Jul 12, 2013)

Yea the floor is not level, it is obvious, I have taped and caulked enough floors and bondo seems just stupid, when all it said and done gaps in floors like that are not that big of a deal but if they teed to be fixed caulk and or quarter round seem to normally be used, the carpenter could have made it work when he trimmed it but this is in no way the painters fault.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

dan-o said:


> On the plus side, the gap distracts the eyes from the nail holes in the trim that never got filled.


OP said the GC pulled the base. I wouldn't fix it till I knew what was going on with that floor first.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Gibberish45 said:


> OP said the GC pulled the base. I wouldn't fix it till I knew what was going on with that floor first.


Yes he pulled the base and put the hardwood down. The commercial job we are doing for them the gaps on the floor are better but like I said before it looks like ocean waves. These guys I am guessing could care less about a level floor and prefer to hack their way through their jobs.

I really hate calling any one a hack. Once I get my stupid smart phone fixed I will get pics on here and you will see I am not kidding.


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## AlphaWolf (Nov 23, 2014)

Thats what shoe molding is for


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