Fascia, hide screws and seam

[electrolove]

My fascia (masonite) is attached to the benchwork. I need a way to hide the screws (they are countersinked) and the seam between two masonite boards. How do you guys do that? Please give me a little step by step tutorial.

[Anonymous]

All you have to do is mudd them with joint compound.  sand them and paint

[Anonymous]

Go to your local hardware store, get some joint compound (for sheetrock), smooth in holes and in joints. If joints are too large, use joint tape with compound. Let dry for a few hours, then lightly sand with medium to fine sand paper until it's smooth with the rest of surface. Prime and paint. You will have to paint facia.

[electrolove]

As you may know I live in Sweden. What is joint compound? Is it the same as spackle?

[chadw]

Spackle is joint compound.

[electrolove]

I don't think you are right there, spackle is not the same as joint compound.

[1train1]

For screw holes.

Latex silicon caulking (white) - you can buy small squeeze containers or use the silcon gun type. Put a small dab on the screw - wet your finger (important for clean up) - and spread the silcon. Blend it it to the contour of the fascia.Clean off any extra with wet cloth.

The seams work the same way. Run a bead down the gap- initially fill the gap using your finger (wet again) - then take a pre soaked cloth and blend it to thecontour of the fascia. Clean off extra surrounding the area.

The secret to silicon is to keep your fingers and the cloth wet so it's easy apply and to clean up after.

It will shrink minimally but will be dry and ready to paint in 12 -24 hours.

It's alot less messy than joint compound IMHO

 

 

[skiloff]

I have to second the caulk idea.  WAY less mess and work.

[nbrodar]

For my fascia, I didn't bother to hide the screw heads, and used lightweight acrylic spackle to smooth the joints.

Nick

[Budliner]

I like the silicon idea

this will be easy to remove in the event you want to get at the screws

 

 

K

[electrolove]

Will the silicone be smooth when painted over, or will I still see the screws and seam?

[spidge]

I went to Lowes, local big box home improvement store, looking for a solution and found these plastic/nylon edges made for 1/8 or 1/4 inch boards. I painted them black and glued them to one edge and left the other loose, just in case.

if you look closely at the photo below you can see the black seem. I would like to find black screws instead of the steal colored that are shown.

Click to enlarge and you will be able to see it better.

[1train1]

You shouldn't see the seams and or screws if your smooth it out and blend it to the facsia ( again I reiterate with a wet finger or wet cloth). And yes, if you ever want to remove the screws you can just use a sharp knife to remove the caulking. The seam of the facsia (if you ever want to alter or remove it) will peel apart with minimal damage.

[Anonymous]

You shouldn't see the seams and or screws if your smooth it out and blend it to the facsia ( again I reiterate with a wet finger or wet cloth). And yes, if you ever want to remove the screws you can just use a sharp knife to remove the caulking. The seam of the facsia (if you ever want to alter or remove it) will peel apart with minimal damage.

This will work fine.  HOWEVER make sure that you get a paintable caulk that is water clean up.  Some of the silicone caulks are neither paintable or water clean up.

 

[1train1]

You shouldn't see the seams and or screws if your smooth it out and blend it to the facsia ( again I reiterate with a wet finger or wet cloth). And yes, if you ever want to remove the screws you can just use a sharp knife to remove the caulking. The seam of the facsia (if you ever want to alter or remove it) will peel apart with minimal damage.

This will work fine.  HOWEVER make sure that you get a paintable caulk that is water clean up.  Some of the silicone caulks are neither paintable or water clean up.

Good Point Alan_B -  Latex , paintable caulking is the ticket.

[rrebell]

Spackle is joint compound.

spackle is not the same as joint compound, not as much shrinkage ect. and much more expencive.

[Don Z]

Why hide the screws? Use a dress washer and screw of matching finish, such as brass and let them show as a decorative accent. Your butt joints look good and tight on your fascia. You could also try some Durham Rock Hard Wood Putty. Mix it with some water and spread it over the joint, let it dry and sand it smooth.

Don Z.

[mondotrains]

Hi,

I agree that you can spackle the seems but if your fascia is not fastened securely to a support behind it, you may find that if you should bump the fascia, your joints may crack.  Using sheetrock tape might be okay but I've found a product called "Self-Adhesive Wall Span" which is a drywall joint tape & wall repair fabric that I got at a True Value hardware store.  It looks like a plastic mesh and stays in place because it is self-adhesive.  Once you've laid it over a seem, you spackle over it.  Again, because it is self-adhesive, it is easier to work with than sheetrock paper tape.  It is also much stronger and will help prevent the spackle from cracking should you bump the seem.

It cost me $3.89 for a roll 75 feet long.  A cheap investment.

 

Hope this helps.

[electrolove]

I think you have a good idea there... I have been thinking about using glasfiber reinforced tape. I think that's what you call it. And then spackle over it.

[jfugate]

I think you have a good idea there... I have been thinking about using glasfiber reinforced tape. I think that's what you call it. And then spackle over it.

Bad idea, in my opinion. In the 15 years of my layout's life, I've needed to remove the fascia in a few spots to do maintenance. Anything that means you will have to tear the fascia all apart (like using fiberglass reinforcing tape) does not make it easy to remove the fascia later.

I think you're over-engineering this whole problem. Use some white painter's latex caulk and a damp sponge to smooth it. Put it over the seam and leave the screws visible. Then paint over it with your fascia color -- yes paint over the masonite fascia, the caulk on the seam and over the raw screw heads all with your fascia color. This will make it blend in and look nice, but leave it very serviceable for maintenance later.

Believe me, you will thank yourself greatly that you did not cover up those screw heads!

[jfugate]

And by the way, later if you need to remove the fascia from a scenicked area, I run a saber saw just behind the fascia board so I don't tear the scenery all up. Then once I put the fascia back, I caulk the seam with the latex painter's caulk, and touch up the scenery. If I ever need to remove the fascia again later, the caulk seam works great since I can just run through it quickly with a razor blade or xacto knife and off comes the fascia, easy as you please.

I suppose you could plan to do this by design and caulk the edges along the fascia as you are building the scenery, just in case.  Yes sir, gotta love that latex caulk! The fact it stays flexible makes it useful in a lot of areas for layout construction.

[zgardner18]

Okay, as a finish carpenter by trade I would have to tell you that caulking is a good idea but the only hang-up on it is that once dried, caulking will shrink.  This means that over time your seems will still be visible and so will the nail holes.  Ask a painter the next time you run into one what he uses, and he will tell you that he never uses caulking to fill nail holes and seams.  There is in most painting aisles a putty that is best for these fills.  The kind that I like is made from Elmer's, as in Elmers Glue.  It does not shrink and paints up well.  If applied and sanded correctly your blemishes will disappear and never be seen again.

[jfugate]

If you're worried about shrinkage, there's always vinyl spacking.



Or there's DAP Elastopatch.



Personally, I've found painter's caulk just fine for fascia seams, and the shrinkage is minimal.