Acrylic decorator's caulk

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Used some by Evostik for the first time. Do all brands shrink as much?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Dunno. Mine barely shrinks at all - from Cornell I think.

[Andy Dingley]

I've never compared, but I've not found one to shrink much, or I wouldn't bother with the stuff. Mine is just Screwfix's bog-standard stuff.

[chris French]

In message , Andy Dingley writes

I've used a variety of brands and not generally noticed a lot of shrinking as a rule - around door frames, skirting etc.. However I used some the other day to fill some slightly wide gaps in a shiplap boarded wall that didn't fill when painted. I noticed that this one had shrunk into the gaps quite a lot.

Maybe it depends on the application.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I used it to fill over the fixings for plasterboard I was intending just painting rather than skimming - and thought the fast drying would be better than normal filler. But they all shrunk - and badly.

Using it to produce a fillet wouldn't matter so much provided it didn't lose adhesion.

[chris French]

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Ahh, yes, probably not a good application for it

[Dave Liquorice]

I find that trying to use flexable decorators caulk as a surface filler is not very good. It's too sticky so when you smooth it with an impliment it drags out of the hole... It skins rather quickly and even if you wet it down you still can't get a good flush finish.

For the gaps around door frames, tops of skirtings it's excellent, I've never noticed any shrinkage. I bought a box of B&Q's "value" stuff a few years back, still works fine.

[Andy Dingley]

Use a wet tool.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I had no trouble getting an excellent finish using a polished metal filling knife wet. A better finish than I'd expect from 'normal' fillers without polishing them after they've partially set.

It's just that it shrunk...

[Dave Liquorice]

Maybe you got it to wet? When the water evaporates it shrinks, with plaster etc a proportion of the water chemically bonds to the filler. One of the reasons why plaster is such a good fire break, it contains a lot of water that has to be "unbonded" and driven off before the plaster loses it's integrity.

With normal fillers it's bang it in, scrape of most of the excess and leave to dry. Quick rub with 80 grit ali oxide when dry to remove the tiny excess. I may remove surrounding excess when partially set if there is more than just a thin scrape.

[Rick Hughes]

I have tried a few makes .... currently stick to Akzo Nobel make, but all the ones I have do shrink back when they dry.

Rick