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THERE ARE FIVE KINDS OF JOINTS IN BASE MOLDING. There is the simple 90 degree butt joint. This one is good for when the new base will die directly into a door casing. An outside corner will be a miter joint. Each inside corner will be cut as a coped joint, meaning one piece will go into the corner with a butt joint (flush against the wall) and then the second piece intersecting it will be cut at a 45 degree angle and then the profile along the cut will be coped out with a coping saw, allowing this piece to fit snugly against the butt jointed piece to form a nice inside corner. The scarf joint happens in the center of a wall(vs. a corner) where the two pieces meet to give the look of continuity. It's done generally because the wall is longer than the strips of molding stock available. You can cut the pieces to form the scarf joint at any angle you wish... most carpenters meet theirs at 45 degrees to avoid confusion. (If we're cutting several pieces before installing them we might do the scarf joint at 33 degrees so as not to get them mixed up with the mitered joints.) Last, there is a mitered return. You may not need this one: it's for modern homes where the room doesn't really have a door but a doorway.  If you can't find where one room begins and the other ends on a wall, this joint will make it look nice. The end of molding strip is cut at an outside 45 degree angle. Cut another piece of the molding but just a sliver, this one also an outside 45 degree but facing the opposite way. Glue the profiles together to form a tiny little outside mitered joint, which looks as if the molding is dying into the wall.
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MATERIALS CHECKLIST |
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Molding stock |
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Drop cloth |
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Tape measure |
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Pencil |
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Coping saw |
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Crosscut or backsaw |
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Power chop saw |
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2 1/2" 8D finish nails |
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Oil |
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1 1/4" or 1 1/2" brads |
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Nail set block plane |
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Endcutter pliers |
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Halfround and threesquare file |
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Shims |
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Safety glasses |
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Utility knife |
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Try square or combination square |
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Adjustable Tbevel (if your room has any inside or outside corners other than 90 degrees) |
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Claw hammer |
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For gaps in the floor, pushing the base down with your heel as you nail it in place may do the trick.
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Hold the longer uncut piece to the corner and mark it for the miter cut.
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- CUT THE FIRST PIECE. Start on a long wall. If you have a piece of molding that is longer than the actual wall, then great: you can do this first wall with just one strip. Cut each end at 90 degrees to run directly into each side's perpendicular wall. To match two pieces in a scarf joint, try to cut the pieces so that (installed) they will sit on a stud. Nail your piece into the wall at the studs. At each stud drive one nail in towards the top of the base, on a raised portion of the profile (this will make it easier to fill later). Then drive the second nail in (at each stud) towards the bottom, and angle it down into the floor. If there is carpeting on the floor then lightly press the molding down along the wall before nailing it in. I usually wait to complete one wall before I go back and set the nails. I wait just in case I run into a problem with the piece and it has to be lifted back off the wall. It certainly won't hurt if you do all the nail setting once the room is installed. With the nail set end directly over the protruding head of the nail, a couple of taps are all it needs to push it just below the surface of the molding.
- CUT THE SECOND PIECE. Measure the distance between the door casing and the wall this small piece. It will butt against the door casing and so needs a 90 degree cut on the left side. Cut the right side at a 45 degree angle and highlight the profile of the cut with your pencil... this will make it easier to follow with your coping saw to complete the coped joint. Cut along the profile to make a back bevel cut (at least at a 90 degree angle) just short of the profile... maybe 1/16". Finish taking off the remaining back bevel with your half-round and three-square files until the piece sits squarely against your first piece with no gap.
- CUT THE PIECE FOR THE NEXT WALL. The left side of the strip will be a 45 degree cut: cope out the back bevel for another nice coped joint. Leave the right side slightly longer than the corner, so that you can mark it once you've set the new piece in, with its coped left side jointed temporarily. Mark it so that the front of the molding (the outside of the cut) will end about 1/8" from the corner of the wall... any little amount short of the edge of the wall will it a nice, finished look. Now cut a small sliver and glue it to the end for a mitered return. You don't need to nail this piece and will probably split it if you do.
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 The Voice of Experience
Grease the nail. The wood may split upon nailing once in a while — it happens. To reduce chances of this happening, you can do a couple of things to the nail before you drive it into the molding. If you dip its tip in oil, the lubrication will grease the new hole as the nail goes in. Sometimes I will spread a small pile of nails out on the drop cloth and lightly spray machine oil over it to get them all greased quickly. Ron (the carpenter who worked with me in California) would run each nail through his hair before he struck it in place (he's got long hair that's a little oily). You can also lightly blunt the tip of the nail and the dulled point will travel straight through the molding (vs. The sharpened point catching the grain) and also lessen chance of splitting. |
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CONTINUE TO MEASURE, CUT AND INSTALL THE BASE MOLDING AROUND THE ROOM. When you get to an outside corner, set the first piece a bit long on the wall and mark it by setting your try square or combination square against the surface of the wall it meets. Before nailing it in place, mark the second piece the same way. Now check to see that the mitered ends close. If open either at the top or the bottom, re-trim each piece by setting a piece of cardboard or thin end of a shim on the table of the saw between the piece and the fence. Careful: a small amount can change the degree quite a bit and hence remedy or worsen the ability for these two pieces to close. Usually I can just shave the end by hand with the utility knife or the block plane. And often the pieces don't look as if they will close but do once nailed in place to each other. Use the 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" brads to close the corner.
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Cut the second piece of the joint at a 45 degree angle.
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With the coping saw, cut out the bevel back at least 90 degrees.
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File the coped piece until it sits snugly against the butt joint piece.
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CUTTING ANGLES OTHER THAN 45 DEGREES. Most corners, whether inside or out, will be 45 degrees. Occasionally, though, you'll come to an unconventional corner. Your home could be very modern and the room could have more than four walls. Or it could be an old space with bay windows and have two inside and two outside corners to figure. Depending upon the depth of this alcove, for instance, your corners could be 22 1/2 degrees or somewhere around 33 degrees. Or the builder could have been completely unconventional and thrown in some obscure angle. FOR ODD INSIDE OR OUTSIDE CORNERS take your adjustable T-bevel and set it at the corner to gauge the angle. With the handle of the T-bevel sitting on one wall at the corner, the blade should extend out equally from between both walls.  To determine this center point you can set an uncut piece on the floor and draw the outline on the floor. This will give you a fairly reliable dissecting point. You can now transfer this angle to the chop saw by lining the handle of the T-bevel against the fence and then adjusting the blade of the saw to the new angle. Try out the angle with a couple of scraps first. When you know that you've got the angle down, then cut your actual piece. Accuracy is more importaint for the outside corners because the profile of each piece must meet up for the miter joint. So again, line up the T-bevel with the center/dissecting point, transfer it to the saw, and make several test cuts with scrap to be sure the pieces will close nicely on that outside miter (before you make the actual cuts).
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