A decorators caulk which cracks when painted over is a decorator’s worst nightmare, but unfortunately it’s an all too common problem.
Caulking is an age old practice for filling joints which require overpainting, such as door frames, skirting boards, or ceiling lines and is pretty much an essential job for all decorating project. Most decorators these days use a standard acrylic filler, as they are the easiest to work with, providing a neat, clean seal.
However many decorators experience problems with decorators’ caulk cracking or crazing when overpainted with matt emulsion – even when they’ve been applied by the book. That is they’ve removed all the dust and debris from the door and/or skirting, cut the nozzle at a 45° to the required width, run a thin bead of acrylic caulk into the joint with a caulking gun, and smoothed off with a wet finger or pointing tool before leaving to cure for the recommended amount of time before painting over with the same matt emulsion to be used on the walls.
Many decorators will agree that however closely you follow the instructions, sometimes you just can’t stop the emulsion from cracking.
While some might argue that to counter act this you should just thin the paint down, or spray on a stabiliser or primer we believe we have solved this age-old problem with one simple product – Dunlop Flexible Acrylic Filler.
Unlike typical decorators’ caulks, the Dunlop Flexible Acrylic Filler can be overpainted with any oil or water-based paints without the need to spot prime and the painted surface will not craze or crack and remain smooth even after painting.
What’s more with a drying time of 60 minutes, depending on conditions, it means that jobs can be finished in ultra-quick time, giving decorators more time to spend on other projects.
