Stop cracking up stair wall between wall and skirting

[annalouiseh]

As our house is oldish there is so movement.

The Stair wall and halls need redecorating due to messy bathroom fitter (who was fired).
House was only renovated 2yrs ago and there is cracks where the skirting up the stair wall meets the wall. so looks like cracked flaking egg shell paint and wall paint depending how the cracks have spread.

when dh renovated, caulk was used to fill the skirting gaps but the house has more movement than a slither or so of caulk.

What's the best way to stop this keep happening again?

Would it be best to make a new fresh gap all up the wall where the wood skirting meets the wall and fill with flexible filler, ready to paint??

Advice on this would be great, don't want to have to keep re-doing the paint (well dh)

depends what is causing the gap.

Is the staircase bouncing around due to stringer not being properly fixed to the wall? Is the wall moving around due to cracks and settlement? Is the wooden trim shrinking due to drying out? Are elephants running up the stairs?

Staircase doesn't bounce, they have been in since it was built so no settlement either and lightweight people living here.
Its purely house movement, the skirting could have shrunk but again had been there for many years, but looking at the cracks it looks more as the wall pulling away from the skirting

is the trim fixed to the wall, or to the staircase? the woodwork will shrink if the house is dried out, e.g. by new central heating after being empty for a while, or having been damp from new plaster, or from wet washing draped around the house.

Neither the wall nor the staircase should be moving unless there is something wrong.

White silicone sticks better than caulk, and does not crack so easily, but is not so easy to use or paint over.

Well the house was empty for 2yrs and all plastered, thinking it would be attached to the wall as its an old ex council house.

You think it would be best to make a fresh gap and fill with this??

www.idealsealants.com/paintable-silicone-sealant-310ml-zwaluw-window-sealp_c1p131.php

yes, or possibly take off the trim, paint the staircase stringer (preferably) white, with the paint overlapping onto the wall, then paint the trim white, including the part that will not normally be seen, so that if the crack opens up again, you will be looking at a painted surface so it will not be so visually intrusive, then screw the trim back. If you can do it so it overlaps the (painted) stringer a slight gap will not show much.

Painted white, with a flexible white silicone filer, the gap won't show much. The surfaces must be very clean before applying silicone, and it will stick well.

Removal of the trim will turn it into a big job as it the orig one... and has never been taken off before. I've just looked at it and it will be attached to the wall.

when my dh renovated his mums house of the same age, noticed all the skirting was nailed and when removing it, it pulled away a lot of brick also.

So trim removal I think would be a little to much as they really stuck things when these houses were made