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holly23675

To caulk or not to caulk?

Holly
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago

My dishwasher is (or will be) in my kitchen peninsula. We laid LVP throughout the entire house, including the space where the dishwasher will go - the floor continues into the kitchen from the living room. I have found conflicting advice regarding whether we should caulk the space where the floor comes up to the cabinets.

The LVP is laid directly over the OSB subfloor. My concern is that if we don't caulk it, we could experience a minor leak that goes unnoticed and destroys the subfloor, grows mold, etc. However, I have received some advice that caulking is a bad idea because if the seal fails then water gets trapped and won't dry. Is that true? Also, as you can see in the picture, one gap is greater than the recommended silicone caulk bead size (1/2" gap, max recommended bead size is 3/8"). If we do caulk this, will the larger bead that will be required make it harder/longer to cure? Or will it create an unreliable seal? Obviously I don't care what it looks like, I just want to make sure it is protected against leaks. How best to handle this? Thanks!



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