I can also plaster - so I don't have wonky walls. I won't fit coving to wonky walls..
Depends what one would deem as 'wonky'.
I can also plaster and am very impressed if you can achieve a perfectly true and flat finish on walls and ceilings. Are we talking (0mm) tolerance over the whole room. I would love to check out a newly plastered room including the ceiling carried out by yourself with my trusty straight edge.
So I use caulk to give that final seal between wall and coving.
Really, surely this would be pointless if you can achieve a 'perfectly' true/flat finish, or am I missing something here?
I don't have wonky walls.
Never had a problem. If you are trying to fill several cm with caulk - then of course it will crack - but it's a bodge job anyway.
Fitting coving in a room and filling the top and bottom with caulk instead of using the adhesive as per the manufacturers instructions is a bodge job. Why would you use a 'flexible' caulk anyway,
as
If the coving moves then it was never fitted correctly. Where does the movement come from? Where is the movement going?
The reason cracking may occur was explained:
I find that water based paints will usually show lots of cracks when applied to caulk unless you apply an undercoat before. You will not have this problem if you use the coving adhesive to fill any gaps.