One of the “fun” perks of being a homeowner, is finding all the little problems with your house and getting to fix them yourself!
Take my new flooring for example, the old carpet was a big problem that drove me crazy enough for me to rip it out and install new and the bowing walls in some of our rooms drive me crazy so I finally took care of them!
From my nice comfy chaise lounge in the living room I would get a nice big glimpse of this all of the time when I looked to my left:
Terrible, right? The huge gap makes my brand new trim look terrible. It wasn’t like the prior owners installed it wrong, they just didn’t finish it off to make it look perfect-o!
Fixing this gap is so easy, and shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes per side of a door.
The essential part of doing this properly is prepping!
Now, you could just grab some white colored DAP and your caulking gun and fill it in, but then you’d have a big mess of caulking on your trim and wall and would have to touch up paint, and who wants to do that?
You’ll need some good painters tape, I don’t trust anything but Frog Tape now, and run it down the edge of your trim leaving just a smidge of bit of your trim exposed (maybe 1/8 of an inch). It is important to leave a bit of the trim exposed so the caulking can adhere to the front of the trim and have a nice clean line.
Also be sure to run painters tape down the wall too, lining it up with the exact edge of your trim.
Once smoothed down perfectly, fill in the gap! Once it is all filled, you can use a scrape to smooth it down perfectly, or use your finger, both work fine.
Let it dry for about 10 minutes, then rip off your painters tape and call it a day!
Wasn’t it easy filling in that gap? Now that the trim in my kitchen is fixed, I’ve been itching to paint- and it has only been 1 day!
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That is such a great tip to use painter’s tape for a crisp edge. We are newish homeowners (about a year) so I always love finding useful tips like this one!
Emily recently posted…Thinking Spring and Warmer Weather!
The painters tape makes SUCH a difference in the ease of this project! Good luck on your projects
I replaced the trim in my guest bathroom several years ago and still haven’t caulked it. It’s such a quick project but, because I rarely go in there (except to clean), I never think of it. From your pictures it’s obvious that it makes a huge difference.
Al recently posted…Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy Book Club
It is so quick and easy to do! I kept putting off caulking the trim because I was just too lazy 😉
Love it. My house is over 60 years old and some of the trim is still gappy-especially around the baseboards. I should really do this!
C.Lem (creativeclementine) recently posted…Kindness by Design #1: Start a Greeting Card Stash
It really is worth the small amount of time it takes! Good luck on yours
We have that problem too… It annoys me so much! Unfortunately we are in a rental so I don’t want to put in the time and energy. LOL!
Bren recently posted…Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
I remember my rental days (Which weren’t too long ago) I hated seeing things like this and knowing I can’t fix it!
I have a love/hate relationship with caulk. I love the way it can make anything look more clean, crisp and finished, but I hate using it, because I somehow manage to get it all over the place. I have never tried using tape and I am thinking you are really on to something here! I can’t wait to try it and see if my caulk mess nightmares are over
Thank you!!
Amanda @ The Refurbished Home recently posted…The Secret to a Clean Microwave- Part 2 of The Spring Cleaning Series
Amanda, trust me, you’re not the only one who makes a mess with it! That is why I used the painters tape! I always manage to get it all over my hands and drop a bunch on the floor!
I love caulk, but never ever considered using painters tape to neaten the job. Wonderful solution.
Thank you, Jody! It really makes the job so much easier and cleaner.
Closing that gap sure made it look so much better…. and I like the idea of using the painter’s tape also.
Gentle Joy recently posted…A Few Fowl Silhouettes
I love the way it looks, it is so much cleaner looking!