I've stripped down some outside window sills and frames. Should I caulk them
then prime or prime, paint and finish by caulking?

"Alan Smithee" wrote in message
news:Xex8e.1045874$Xk.206174@pd7tw3no...
I've stripped down some outside window sills and frames. Should I caulk
them
then prime or prime, paint and finish by caulking?



I usually prime, caulk and then paint on a frame house.

On brick, stone or vinyl siding I would caulk last to keep cleaner lines.

Colbyt


BTW, I am not a pro painter.

If you do some research on this you will most likely find no
consistancy. Personally, I wouldn't paint something that is flexible
unless I had paint that could flex, but then again, I'm using white
caulk on areas that are painted white already.

I'd have to agree with the thought that there's no consensus.

I normally prime, caulk, then paint. Some say caulk first but,
obviously, I disagree - whenever I prep windows and I can pull out long
strips of caulking, it's normally bare wood underneath.

I think that whether you caulk after priming or after the finish coat
probably doesn't matter. The one factor would be how well you can run
caulk - if you can get a nice clean bead you could do it last, after
the finish coat. Otherwise, the finished product will look better if
you paint last.

I should add --

Whenever I'm doing a house I try to get all the prep work done first --
scraping/cleaning, priming, caulking, then finish coat. I haven't had a
problem with finish coat cracking when applied over caulk, but you have
to allow time for the caulk to set. This is why I say, whether you
caulk after priming or after finish coat, it doesn't matter. But, from
personal experience, I'd avoid caulking on bare wood.