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You might think when you are getting ready to paint the inside of a room, both the walls, the woodwork, the trim and everything else, that to get a great job instead of a good job that the two most important tools are the roller and a paintbrush. Guess what, you are wrong.

The most important tool to use before you even get started is a caulk gun. The reason that the caulk gun is so important is that you use this tool to fill all those troublesome gaps between the woodwork and the wall. If you do not fill those before you paint, after you are finish painting, it just looks really tacky.

The key to caulking is to make sure that the size of the hole where the caulk comes out of the tube is just right. So, cut off little pieces of the tube until you start to expose the end of the tube to get the hole just right. You want the size of the hole at the end of the caulk tube to match the width of the crack.

You need to make sure before you actually caulk that you purchase the right caulk. Look for one that says siliconized acrylic or paintable. And once you have got the tip cut, it is time to caulk. Simply take the caulk gun and put it right at the crack and start to gently squeeze the trigger until a small amount of caulk comes out. Do not put on too much, there is no need for a lot of caulk. Stop the caulk gun and then take your finger and use it to go ahead and smooth the caulk inside the joint. But you are not finish yet, you take the sponge, there is very little water in it and a couple of strokes down the caulk joint and you are good to go. Caulking is really simple makes a big difference on your paint project.

I am Tim Carter for Ask the Builder. If you want to discover more home improvement tips go to AskTheBuilder.com.

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