Baseboard modeling provides a ocular and forcible connection between wall and next flooring , room access and windowpane case , and a home base ’s architectural style . We deal everything you involve to know when choosing and installing baseboard trimming .
Baseboard moldings — one of a room ’s last eat up trims to be set up — are meant to sate gap between dry wall and floor , protect walls against vacuum dent and piece of furniture scrapes , and shape a pleasingly cohesive margin . Baseboards meet up with door casings and anchorarchitectural wall treatmentssuch as paneled wainscoting .
After thewalls are painted , the floors are put down , and the cabinet are installed , baseboard moldings are put in and play an indispensable role in how a room see and feels . Thoughtfully pick out baseboard moldings go a tenacious way toward emphasizing design style that range from streamlined modernistic to old - world to traditional .
Credit:Jacob Fox
Installing baseboard modelling is a job for anyone comfortable using power tools , making a few specialized saw cuts , and who has a knack for exact measuring . If you think you ’re not up to the task , ask your friends or local building affiliation to recommend a reliable contractor . If you decide to go the contractor road , obtain multiple bid for equivalence ’s interest . take for references , and check with the contractor ’s previous clients .
What You’ll Need
Equipment / Tools
Materials
Instructions
Pick Your Material
prefer a baseboard style that complements your home ’s architecture , suits your blueprint aesthetic , and works with your home base ’s exist millwork . Some pop skirting board styles include rounded home modelling , Colonial - type trim with a decorative edge , fluted casings , and 4 to 6 inch high insipid - board moldings .
Inventive configuration and creative baseboard ideas — such as stacking ready - made moldings , expanding a mopboard ’s comportment with cap and shoe modelling , or opting for custom - crafted millwork — offer nearly endless possibleness for finishing off the bottom of your walls .
Most home sum trade moldings of various material and lengths that commonly vagabond from 8 to 12 feet . Architectural modeling is a durable , easy - to - do by , lightweight trim crafted of polystyrene or polyurethan that is often sold in 8 - foot distance . Medium - concentration fibreboard ( MDF ) is a lightweight direct - Sir Henry Joseph Wood product that come pre - prim , so it ’s ready for picture . You ’ll also find baseboard moldings crafted of oak , pine , and hardwood in unfinished , pre - prim , stained , and painted finish .
Plinth stop , corner blocks , and other specialty trim opus are usable in all materials . These piece fit privileged corners or around outside niche to accommodate unbowed duration of clay sculpture , so you wo n’t have to miter or cope bound . In addition , these specialty blocks countenance you join trims of different widths and profiles and adjust baseboards to fit around level that step up or down .
Once you ’ve purchase baseboard moldings , allow the materials sit inside your family for a week before finishing and installing the trim . This will give the material prison term to adjust to temperatures and conditions inside the menage .
You ’ll salvage time and protect your knees if you enforce a finish to baseboard cut back patch before installing it on the walls . Protect your workplace floor with fall textile , move in a pair of sawhorses , andset your trim piecesso you may tarnish , premier , and/or paint them all at once . Once the paint has dried , it ’s time to instal the molding .
Multipiece baseboards bestow a courteous touch to a elbow room . Some installations mete out with the crown modelling and just utilize a baseboard and lowly shoe .
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Cut Baseboard Moldings
Use a orbitual or mitre saw to cut boards to the correct length , let extra inches for mitre joint cut on baseboard pieces that fulfil at outdoor corners . Use a miter go out to cut 45 - degree angles in trim pieces that will have mitered joint ; use a coping saw to create deal joints for inner corners . Cut a baseboard piece for unbowed stretchability of wall to reach from street corner to tree . For runs longer than 5 feet , cut down the pieces about 1/16 in longer than the measuring .
Do a Dry Run
Begin Installation
Jacob Fox
Splice if Needed
If needed , lap joint piece . When wall are long than the length of your molding pieces , you ’ll need to wed two pieces together using a scarf joint joint . trim 45 - degree angles on the ending of adjoining pieces , which will overlap one another . Plan the articulation so it ’s on a he-man for secure nailing . Predrill nail holes before driving nail into the joint to avoid part the Sir Henry Joseph Wood . A tight - meet scarf joint will be barely visible with a bit of mucilage and some heady sanding .
Nail to Wall
Miter Corners
To miter outside corners , fit the coped end of the molding first , and then mark the miter fix with the while in place . Keep in mind that corners are seldom perfectly satisfying . You may demand to aline miter angles slightly for a honest fit . Make test cuts in scrap pieces .
Tighten Mitered Cuts
If the reefer has an open front , a stroke or two with a block plane at the back of the joint constrain the fit . Another fashion to exchange a mitre slant slightly is to locate a playing bill between themiter sawfence and molding .
Add Shoe Molding
To complete the look , add horseshoe molding :
position shoe molding across the lower boundary of the mopboard .
Nail or paste the bit in place .
Cope inside joint and miter outside joints , gluing as needed to guarantee . Use scarf joints to wed cut back pieces on long walls .
Add cap border to the top of the baseboards for a more traditional look . Set jacket model atop baseboard trim , localise it wealthy against the paries . apply the same proficiency to add the roof modeling as you would with the skid molding .
Review Work
Go back over your workplace . utilise sandpaper to knock off sharp sharpness and superfluous adhesive agent . Putty and touch up nail holes with paint or stain . Add another coating of paint or dirt if needed .
