Home maintenance tip caulking/ preventive maintenance

[Louis D.]

   As a remodeling contractor I have seen homes with 10s of thousands of needed repair that could have been prevented with a bit of proper maintenance. One that stands out if caulking. You can buy a home that has been painted and looks great but if proper caulking was not done and maintained this opens the door for dry rot. If it's your buy and hold or the home you live in, once a year walk around your home and check around all windows and wood trims and make sure the caulking is good. If not caulk it. Don't use the cheap stuff either. I have had good luck with Sahco Big Stretch but a friend of mine was told at Sherwin Williams that they have one that is better. I will need at least a year of evaluate. DAP makes one called Extreme Stretch and I don't have any long term data on that one. Regardless failed caulk or no caulk will lead to damage. When you have a home painted it may add a lot of $ to caulk but it will be less then the cost of repairs if you don't. This goes for inside the home too. Bathrooms get the mold resistant paintable caulk. If it is paintable then it can be cleaned when applied. You may want to check the roof vents on the house  and check the caulking/seal  on that but I have only rarely seen damage from that.

I did a lot of large crown molding in a large home (7/1/4" and 12" paintable ) and I would not want to have to caulk any of it again, especially the molding that was 21' high,  so use the more expensive caulk inside too. It shrinks less. You may want to add a calking inspection to your properties yearly or bi-yearly inspections and save your hard earned money for buying more homes.