Installing Floor Molding

First hold the base molding against the wall after you cut it to length and look for gaps.

Installing floor molding.

Miter the corners as with the base molding. Cut the base shoe a quarter round molding that goes at the bottom of the base molding to length and attach it with a finish nailer. You ll save time and protect your knees if you completely finish baseboard trim pieces before installing it on the walls. Then apply construction adhesive at the top and bottom.

Once the paint has dried it s time to install the molding. In addition to allowing endless possibilities for customization smaller moldings are easier to cut and install than large moldings and allow more flexibility on wavy or irregular walls. The nails won t hold if they re driven straight into the polystyrene molding. The builders knew the advantages of combining small wood moldings.

At that point tack a scrap piece of baseboard to the wall with a nail. If you see some cut a few braces from 4 to 6 in. Tack the shoe molding down into the floor with pin nails. When installing trim such as baseboard and crown molding master craftspeople use this method and you can too.

Caulk along the top edge and corner edges and nail holes. Employ the same methods for outside and inside corners scarf and butt joints on the moulding. Lengths of scrap baseboard and put 45 degree angles on the ends. Coped molding gives the tightest fit best a.

Set a 4 foot level on the floor next to the wall to see if the floor is level. Nail it at an angle so that the nail goes downward into the wood. Nail the floor trim to the studs and then tack the braces to the trim with 1 in brads. Tack the cap molding into studs wherever possible.

Install shoe or cap moulding if using. If you have concrete floors you will need to tack it into the baseboard. When you get to an outside corner set the first piece to that it extends past the outside corner. If not move the level across the floor to find its lowest point.

Protect your workplace floor with drop cloths move in a pair of sawhorses and set your trim pieces in place so you can stain prime and or paint them all at one time. Plus you can often achieve a great effect for less money by combining small wood moldings.