Workbench Creations

Nice writeup!

You both did a stunning job!

I almost always replace the edge molding (known as "base" in the industry) with new because:

1. It usually gets messed up in the process of removal.

2. It usually has 23 coats of paint on it.

3. It is almost always the cheap stuff and,

4. It is never installed correctly.

The installation is not really hard, but almost everyone does it wrong, including many contractors.

Most people just cut 45° edges and put it together like a picture frame. That is wrong. The joints never look right and shrinkage tends to pull them apart. Then they add putty and you soon see why everyone paints their trim!

To lay base you should use a air pin nailer, but be my guest to do it manually. You need a chop saw that can cut 45° angles as well as other non-standard angles. Lastly, a coping saw.

When you buy a coping saw the first thing you must do is remove the blade. Every coping saw I have ever seen on the store shelf has the blade in backwards. The saw should not cut on the down stroke like a normal saw, it should cut on the up stroke. Try it both ways and you will se why!

The correct way to lay base is to lay in the first piece with straight cut ends (90°). Make the first (and every subsequent piece) longer than the actual measurement. Typically, this can be anything from 1/16" to 3/16" (or more) depending on the board length). Bend the board and tuck both ends tight into the corners, then snap the center into place and nail.

Repeat the process for the opposing wall. When done you will be left with two runs of unfinished walls bound by the new base at each corner.

Measure the distance along the floor between the two new base boards. You are measuring from the surface of the new base board to the surface of the other new base board, not the wall. Add a few 1/16" of length to the measurement.

Set your chop saw angle to 45°. This will sound very weird, but bare with me...

Place the base face up and cut a 45° bevel on one end so that it looks like a miter cut for a picture frame.

Measure from the intersection of the 45° cut and the face of the base board back to the opposing end for the length of the desired board. Cut a 45° angle on that end.

If you did this right you have a board that is about 1/16" to 3/16" too long tip to tip for the measurement from wall to wall.

An alternate way to do this is to measure the distance wall to wall and cut the base board 45° as shown:

Obviously, this piece is not going to fit, but this is where the cooping saw comes in.

Lay the board flat and back cut by about 5° right along the boundary edge between the flat face of the base board and the 45° bevel. This takes a little practice, so try this on some scrap wood first.

The reason you do this is because the first 45° angle cut across the base board face actually makes a profile that perfectly matches the face contour of the base board you are mating it to. When you cut along the boundary of these two angles you make a perfect contour match with the copping saw. By back cutting a few degrees you give yourself some wiggle room to make a perfect tight joint.

Because the base board is cut a little long you need to bend and snap it in place between the two boards at the opposite ends of the wall just like the last two. If/when the boards shrink they will not pull apart.

If joining a wall that is not at 90°, just change your angle cut accordingly. You can test fit two scrap pieces if in doubt.

All outside corners are cut like a normal miter cut, just add an extra 1° to the cut angle so that any gap between boards is at the back, not the front. I use yellow wood glue to hold outside corners together and cross nail with an air nail gun.

Fill in all nail holes with putty.

You can stain or paint the wood first and touch up after installing the base.

Crown works the same way, but the cuts are more complex and a compound miter saw is the best tool.

Take your time and you will have professional looking trim that exceeds the quality and look of homes costing 1 million dollars and more. You can buy some pretty exotic base board or even generic base, but is 6" tall. The tall base really sets your house and room apart from other homes because so few homes use it.

If you do a nice job this way it is very rewarding to stain the wood rather than paint. Stained wood is stunning and makes the value of the house look much richer.

Thanks for the great (and detailed) tips on how to install base molding! We decided that keeping the original molding was much more budget friendly, even if we did have to sand and paint.

I have no idea what the original folks were thinking when they installed it in the first place-- no nice 45 degree corners here. There were edges that were straight, and edges that were carved in a curve to fit along the shape of the adjoining molding!! I can't imagine how long it took to do that. Fortunately, with a little bit of filler and some new paint, you can't even tell.

Ah, the joys of an older home!

My first house was built in 1800. The whole house leaned because it was built on the side of a hill and after two centuries, you know which way things move on a hill.

They did things quite a bit different two hundred years ago, but they also did things pretty well. Still, you can pull your hair out sometimes. :-)

Well, that would be true if we had an older home, but ours is only about 30 years old! Ours had only suffered from Idiot Previous-Owner Syndrome. ;^D

30 years is not that young when it comes to maintenance.

I can fully emphasize with you as far as previous owners go! ;-)

Any way, both of you must be very satisfied with the new floor. Bamboo is such a beautiful wood and your pictures look beautiful.

Hi Mello,

Reading the post from anonymous hero, it sounds like the original folks may have followed his method to ensure no gaps visible with the adjoining moulding, as you would get with a 45 degree mitre.

The method described by AH would ensure that no gaps were visible unless you press your head against the wall.

DesEng

Excellent reminder and description of the time-honored technique of coping, rather than mitering, inside corners. Any little gap in a mitered corner is conspicuous, because it is easy to look right into the gap. But if a coped joint has a little gap, it is all but invisible unless you have your eyeball on the wall looking directly into the gap. From anywhere inward, all you see is wood.

I just finished my "winter project" of replacing our kitchen floor this weekend! It was supposed to be a simple one-room project that turned into a 4-room renovation of a nearly new home. My wife assured me that "If you just do this one room I will be happy." Of course by the time she was done making plans for my time, we had 4 rooms done, and a new oak arch-way between the dining room and the living room.

It sure looks nice and gives a sense of accomplishment when you sit back and look at it knowing you did it and it is done right. It was also nice to have the hardwood floors installed that we really wanted, but could not afford to go deeper into debt for. They were bought with "leftover money" from paychecks as we went along and no new debt was incurred, but I am guessing we increased the value of the home by at least 4x the cost of the materials - if/when the housing market ever comes back.

Congratulations on a job well-done and a well-written description of the process. Also thanks to the contributer of the RIGHT way to put on base board. Those of us smart and ambitious enough to do our own work will get ahead in life. Or, at least we will get more satisfaction out of it.