Does anyone call out lack of sealant at the cabinet-floor transition in bathrooms and kitchens?
I call out lack of caulking at the walls at these areas, in case there’s accidental spillage- any water that goes under the baseboard is not coming back out again… it’s getting soaked up into the trim. But even the builders who do a great job caulking don’t seem to caulk the cabinets. It seems like that would prevent possible repairs in the future at the cabinetry.
Is this because the sealant would keep in any water that may leak from plumbing inside cabinets?
with the advent of so many laminate and floating floor systems caulking at the floor line is a useless waste of time…these floors are constantly moving and the resulting cracked caulk is nuisance. The same is true with vinyl and hardwood flooring…
It’s called out in all wet areas and food preparation areas for water damage prevention and collection of food debris (crumbs, etc.).
Most new build I see they do caulk them and typically with caulk matching cabinetry colors. For the rest of them its just another expensive they can shave off.
BTW many new builds I see they caulk all baseboards to flooring typically with caulk matching the flooring (wood flooring) or baseboards/cabinets (tile floors).
I’ve seen different opinions about caulking around a toilet base. Some say yes, others say no, and then there are the yes/no’s. I think the no’s tend to go with the idea that a caulked base would not allow for fast identification of a faulty wax seal leaking. Water would seep out from under the base. The yes/no’s were more inclined to say caulk the base, but leave an area un-caulked for a seep hole in case the wax ring went bad.
The yes’ers, well, as depicted, they caulk everything.
Rarely if ever would I mention the caulking on the inside of the home…on a typical home inspection there are much bigger fish to fry…
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jdeoliveira2
(John Paul de Oliveira, GB-2 #86934 / AB #44580)
19
You answered your own question Michael. Caulking a floor to bath/kitchen cabinet junction can form a mini pond that holds water. Under sink leaks are common.
As they say seeing is believing.
Caulking toilets - Yes, with a small gap on concrete floors as it helps to seat and stabilize the base from movement. Wood floors, no, see above. Plus as others mentioned the wood expands/contracts. Concrete and ceramic seem to have similar thermal expansion rates, so caulked bases tend to last years without cracking.
