I'm replacing some baseboard this weekend. I've never done this. It seems simple enough but I thought I'd hit up the braintrust to see if any of you have any tips or product suggestions.

Thanks!

Wood trim, electric, or hot water?

If you've never done it, do you have any tools?

Is it on the floor, or in the floor?

Why are you replacing it?

Do you need tips, or instructions?

Are you using a hand saw with miter box and hammer or electric compound miter saw with a nail brad gun?

Cope the inside miters. Focus on outside miter joinery. Glue and pin the outside joinery. Yes, you can fill with caulk, but relying heavily on it will net you a sloppy looking job. Find the studs and nail to them. If you have a run longer than your material, make the splice with 90 deg matching cuts, glue and pin over a stud. Try to mate the profile so you have as little sanding to do as possible. Other than that, Measure twice, cut once.

You need tools,you need to cope you joints,trim nailer would be nice but you can do with a hammer and finish nails plus a center punch to set nails.

If in doubt, pre-drill your holes. Nothing like spending time on a perfect joint and then splitting the piece.

Measure lots, cut once!

Measure, cut and nail each piece completely in place one at a time rather than tacking and moving on to the next piece and then coming back to finish nail it all. This should prevent gaps on the inside corners.

Ask me how I Know that!

(Amateur here as well!!)

Get some knee pads, you are going to need them! They really do help a lot when you are on your knee's all day.

Here's my tip, don't put a nail through a water pipe inside the wall. Don't ask how I know.

Painters caulk. $1.49 a tube. Smeared into the cracks by finger, smoothed with wet finger.

My motto Caulk and paint make this carpenter what he ain't.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
If you have a run longer than your material, make the splice with 90 deg matching cuts, glue and pin over a stud.

I prefer making a scarf joint when you have to splice a long run. It is simply an inside and an outside miter cut lapped together, over a stud. Also, nails that go in on a slight angle tend to stay better than nails that go straight in. Nail slightly upwards for the top nail, and slightly downwards for the bottom nail into the stud. A nail or brad gun makes this job a whole lot easier.
 

quote:

Originally posted by }BuLL:
Here's my tip, don't put a nail through a water pipe inside the wall. Don't ask how I know.

Or an A/c freon line.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
If you have a run longer than your material, make the splice with 90 deg matching cuts, glue and pin over a stud.

I prefer making a scarf joint when you have to splice a long run. It is simply an inside and an outside miter cut lapped together, over a stud.
 

Agree 100%, I also add wood glue to the scarf joint and it will never pull or gap apart. I don't do the joint over a stud and have no problem due to using the glue. Nothing wrong with doing to over a joint just a little more effort and more material waste.

Screw trying to cope. Unless you know what you're doing with that, it takes forever and it's really not needed.

Always join two pieces in a less conspicuous area, not in the center of the room.

Small mistakes will stick out like a billboard to you, but others really won't notice them.

Use a power mitre saw.

If using an electric miter saw, make sure the blade is set 90 degrees straight up and down. Make a couple of 45 degree cuts on piece of scrap 2X4 and ensure the edge is square. Also found it is much better to prime/paint before you cut and install. Using a small 2" foam roller make the job much faster and neater.

Definitely prime it before installing. I know some who paint first too, but I don't. I like scarf joints with glue much better than butt joints on long runs. Most base comes long enough that you can use one piece but if you have to splice, do it behind a door or furniture. I use wood filler for nail holes--overfill it slightly and than sand lightly with a foam block once it's dried--I think it looks better than caulk which tends to shrink when it dries and leaves a little dimple. I use the squeeze tubes of latex caulk between the base and wall rather than the big tubes and a caulk gun. Much easier to control and any leftover caulk in the big tubes ends up useless anyway. If you plan ahead you can wind up with very little waste.

Are you going to use 1/4 round to transition the baseboard to the flooring? If so, use a piece of paper folded in half to space the 1/4 round up from the floor. You can then slide a piece of paper under the molding when you paint - much faster than trying to cut the edge or taping it off.

quote:

Originally posted by RAMIUS:
Screw trying to cope. Unless you know what you're doing with that, it takes forever and it's really not needed.

I only cope inside corners that are way out of square and I don't feel like messing with odd angles. Check your corners with a square before starting to see if this is a problem.

Scarf joints: Should be 15 degrees (22.5 will do) but not 45 degrees. 45 has too much overlap and a sharp, exposed edge: especially with vinyl coated MDF . Same angle with any running trim.

Oh yeah, watch a few YouTube videos and you'll be good to go.