In going around my house I notice that not infrequently the miters between moldings around doors and other places have opened up into a crack.
If I am putting new moldings in, how do I avoid this from happening?
I can join the moldings, for example, by using a spline, but that only goes so far, eventually a point is reached where you can't spline.
One idea I had is that it is a matter of dryness. If the wood has any moisture, then it will shrink when the moisture dries out eventually. Therefore, if the wood is thoroughly dried before being oil painted, then it should theoretically be stable because it is dry and and there is no way for moisture to get past oil paint, so the wood should never change size. Is that the only way?