# Flush baseboard bonding issue



## Poindextrous (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm getting a break in the bond of the drywall compound to a primed, kiln dried poplar 1x6 baseboard. The line of the joint between drywall and wood is holding, its about 1" below, where the mesh tape ends that a hair line crack is appearing. We primed the wood baseboard, whose top edge is back beveled. Below the crack the mud is sticking to the wood just fine. It appears that the mesh is serving to better connect the mud above the line to the drywall and there is a failure of the mud to sufficiently bond to the wood in this area.

What should I have done besides prime the wood to get a better bond? 
I'm now becoming more familiar with the term bonding agent- is there something specific for wood?
The house has a hydronic radiant heat system on top of the floor boards which we've been running continuously so there have not been any big temperature changes, but I wonder what I will be facing in six months time, when the relative humidity changes seasonally.

Do you have any particular products to recommend? The client generally is wanting a low or no VOC product used through out the house so I'm hoping to find a solution that is not going to smell.

Don't get me started on these modern details, but I know its a common architectural detail for which I need a solution. Thanks for the advice.


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## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

Aside from the use of mesh, it sounds like something is moving/shrinking/drying out.


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## Poindextrous (Dec 29, 2014)

Indeed *fr8train*, but we've tried as what we thought best as possible to make this not happen- kiln dried wood, priming surface for better adhesion. If there's one thing his job has taught me is that for trim details have been basically what they are for hundreds of years, they work. Casings exist for precisely the purpose they are designed for- to span across dissimilar materials.

My research has come up with what I hope will be an acceptable bonding agent, a product called Weldbond which is Low VOC, but I'm wondering what others have done to make this blind joint between dissimilar materials stay tight. I have a lot of additional linear footage beyond just this flush baseboard detail throughout the house to worry about it cracking over time.


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## fr8train (Jan 20, 2008)

Your wood may have been kiln dried etc etc, what about the studs? I purchased "kiln dried" studs while working on my house.... once the warm weather hit there was sap everywhere!


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## gazman (Apr 29, 2011)

If we need mud to stick to a surface where there are bonding issues we use a product called Bondcrete, it is a PVA based bonding agent. I don't know if it is available in the USA or not, but I m sure there would be something similar. Your problem is that you are trying to bond mud to something that it was not designed for. 
http://www.bondall.com/bondcrete/Bondall_Bondcrete.html


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## Poindextrous (Dec 29, 2014)

LOL.
Tell that to the architect...


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## Bazooka-Joe (Dec 31, 2010)

Poindextrous said:


> LOL.
> Tell that to the architect...


Fuk the arseateckt.....


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