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Handyman Hints For Hiding Baseboard Gaps

  
  
  

baseboardIf you've ever installed baseboard, you've probably experienced the frustration gaps in the baseboard. These are not defects in the baseboard, I'm talking about "operator error". Not that it would totally be the installer's fault, but let's face it, you installed it.

Walls don't run perfectly straight, or maybe there is an issue with the flooring...whatever the reason, you need to make the job appear to be perfect.

If you or your handyman are installing baseboard that will be painted, you are in luck. Caulking can make lots of gaps go away. In fact, I know production installers that don't even miter the inside corners. Instead, they cut all inside corners to 7-degrees, put the ends together and caulk the entire corner. Most people wouldn't even notice once it's painted.

For the rest of us who try to do a nice job, you will miter the inside corners. This will get the corners very close and allow you to use a minimal amount of caulking to conceal the gaps. Once the caulking dries, the paint will blend everything in.

If you are installing hardwood baseboard that will be stained and varnished (i.e. very noticeable and difficult to conceal gaps), you can also cope the inside corners. Coping is the practice of cutting the profile of the baseboard into the adjoining piece. It is time consuming and exact work...not something you would want to spend the time on unless you are using baseboard that will be stained and varnished, such as oak or maple.

For outside corners, you have a couple of options. You can increase the miter cut by 1 or 2 degrees which will give you a tight corner at the front, but a tiny gap at the wall. This can then be caulked and painted. You really don't have the option of caulking if you are going to stain and varnish the wood. Instead you can burnish the corner. Burnishing compacts the wood fibers. If you have a small gap at the front of an outside corner, you can burnish it by using the round shank of a screwdriver. Run the shank along the gap and the wood fibers will compact together and close the gap.

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