How To Install Baseboard Molding, Even On Crooked Walls

Perfect-fitting baseboard trim and moldings

By the experts at The Family Handyman
From The Family Handyman
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Tricks for Installing Baseboards

Every good trim carpenter has a tool apron full of special tricks for cutting and installing baseboards gap free and with tight joints. They need them, and so will you when you trim out that new family room. That’s because walls are rarely the perfectly flat surfaces that first meet the eye. On closer inspection, you’ll find lumpy mounds of taping compound, corners that are out of square and wavy walls—no matter how well your house was built.

In this article, we’ll show you the five most common problems that conspire against you when you’re installing base trim and the solutions for each. You’ll get first-class results without hours of frustrating effort. While you sometimes only need one of these tips to solve a problem, often a combination of two or more will be required for polished results. But don’t worry— they’re all easy, fast and free.

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Related Topics
Related Links
  • Interior Trim Basics
  • Pro tips for trimming a door, casing a window and installing a three-piece baseboard with molding tight miters.
  • Tips for Perfect Trim
  • Tricks for getting tight-fitting joints on door and window casing and base moldings.
  • Scribing for a Perfect Fit
  • Easily transfer odd shapes and profiles with just a pencil or a pencil\/compass combination.

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My cousin was behind the bakery's cash register one morning when a gunman burst in and demanded all the cash. As she nervously handed over the money, she noticed the rolls of coins in the back of the register. "Do you want the rolls too?" she asked. "No," said the robber, waving his gun. "Just the money."

-- Phil Leman