Before I became the PAINTSMITH I was called the (
text editted for my mother). I buy ONLY Albion guns and have worked with just about everything sealant-wise...With that in mind...
Latex caulking is a
cosmetic. It has no structural properties and will only "seal" as a side-job to it's main purpose, as a
cosmetic...I have caulked more doorjambs than most people have walked through...
I don't want to bash brands, but there are a lot of BAD latex products out there with supposedly GOOD names. I will use DAP Alex, but not Alex-Plus. The silicone additive in the Alex-Plus will cure in the tube, leaving you to fish chunks out of your work...I also don't think I've ever tried a brand that
didn't put an air bubble about halfway down the tube. Have you ever had a tube that wouldn't stop spewing product all over the place? That's from that air bubble they put inside...Once you get past the bubble, the spewing ceases...
One of the problems some painters have with caulking is using that daggone rag. You CAN wipe out too much material, not leaving enough to maintain integrity when the joint moves or swells and shrinks, even slightly. Caulking shrinks, and shrinks a lot. I tool my beads with a wet fingertip, leaving the tooled bead almost flush across the joint. When the bead shrinks it has a consistant concave roundness, not a sharp to-the-crack tightness. Except in exterior applications I have never had an issue with caulk joints cracking. Remove the rag from the equation and leave some material in the joint! The only place I use a rag is on the 45s of jamb casings, to wipe excess from a flush joint...
Outside, I like Vulcem, a one-part polyurethane paintable sealant. It is cost prohibitive for many folks (upwards of $5/tube), but provides for great wear and flexibility in the extreme elements...
...Oh, and Michael's right about paint; it will generally crack befor the caulk joint will, unless there's scant caulking in the joint in the first place...
Good luck