I’d like to hear from painters, trimmers, GC’s, designers, the lot on this. Placing my nails in molding, be it crown, picture rail, chair rail, wainscot, or base. My instinct is to shoot my nails when trimming into inside corner grooves whenever possible. I figure that even with a quick putty and paint, the nail hole disappears into the shadow cast. Some of my colleagues argue that it’s better to shoot the nails into a nice smooth surface (say the ogee curve itself) and some painters have said this. However the painters that have said this dislike puttying and the obvious nail holes (puttied by a quick swipe of a finger)telegraph through the paint like dents. Is this a “less filling” “tastes better” arguement or does one side have actual merit (I’m speaking of high end work where the customer wants “ooohs” and “aahhhs”).
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Replies
It depends on what the painters are using to fill the nail holes. I notice that the higher quality painters that follow my trim work use bondo, or something similar. The filler is over filled into the hole and then sanded back down flush. It is not wiped with a finger tip which will always leave an indentation. Therefore when using a sanded filler it is better to place the nails into the larger flatter areas, not the corners which are much harder to fill and sand.
I prefer to nail in a "flat" area and leave the detail areas alone. When I can, I like to talk to the painters about what they want. Some painters like the idea of me overfilling the holes so it's ready to sand when they get there and others would rather do it themselves.
I got really ticked off at a painter a couple of months ago, though. I hung and cased 15 new doors for a customer and filled the holes as I went - figuring it would help the painter when he got there. When I was back there for another job, I saw that the @^# painter had just painted over the filler. Jeez, it looked like crap!!
The flat areas of course. Nail in the grooves and you'll be sure to mess up the high profile ridges every here and there especially using a nail gun!!!
I love the tubes they sell now of wood putty with the pointy ends you snip to size. MAkes things go so fast.
Always leave it a bit proud and go back in fifteen minutes and sand smooth. Takes about 3-5 seconds total for each hole.
The a-hole I just fired went around to all my nail holes in the master bedroom area (bedroom, large bathroom large walk in closet vestibule linen closet base moldings door trim ceiling moldings.blah blah blah grrrrrrrrr#$^%&%^%$@#%... I just did such a great job on all the finish work and that moron fills the nail holes with caulking. I wanted to murder him!! I had about a dozen of those wood putty tubes dead in the middle of the floor...several different colors as well for different areas.
I spent lunch time telling him how important it is to use wood putty so what does he do........grrrrrrrr#$^$%&%$#. Was the last straw. I fired him. Don't ask!
Spent the rest of the day with a nail set re-holing the holes (is that a word).
USed a trim nail gun to install the molding ....with the gun set to sink each hole about a 1/16"....was looking sooooo good till that know it all got his hands on a caulking gun. Wouldnt even cop to the fact he was wrong.said that all the trim guys he knows uses caulking. I told him to get a job with them.
I'm so glad that idiot is gone.....Don't ask (thats another thread).
Be back in the help wanteds (is that a word)
a...
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I'm well aware that the gun nose and anvil can mar the arris of a mold detail but haven't had that problem. We use 16 ga, 18 ga and a micropinner all with rubber tips. Haven't tried the putty in the little tubes, gotta check them out. I just finished a job for a another comp who got tossed because they didn't use the custom mixed caulking that cost several grand and instead used builder almond. The trim was maple and the walls had more waves than the sea. We usually use Mohawk wax sticks on prefinish and wood dough/water putty for paint. Wonder if they make magic wood putty in quart sized tubes?
Wonder if they make magic wood putty in quart sized tubes?>>>>
mb,
They do sell it in big tubes but haven't seen it in colors yet and it doesnt have the pointy tip so....
Those tubes rock....they should just sell some kinda applicator you can load up like a big syringe and have tints to mix in the putty...There I go giving away ideas for free...probably already have that though somewhere.
Be well
a...The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
tinted putty...hmmm...tinted caulk...
how about artist's oil colors? some are oil based, others are water and others are powdered. aniline dyes added to white caulk or wood dough? you could mix onsite to match stained wood...how to store and apply so that it'll keep more than a day...
tinted caulking was already discussed I think in an issue of FHB but I haven't seen anything about wood filler,
Can't hurt to try. I think I'll try tomorrow with water based artist paints in water based putty.
MAybe in the powdered putty w/ diluted artist acrylics rather than water...hmmmm.
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides,
I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.
I usually nail on the flat. I'm lucky I don't have to fill the nail holes, painter takes care of that. He prefers it where he can easily get to it, and I think it's easier to nail.
Of course, like every painter, he thinks I should use 2 nails per 16' piece, but that is a never ending battle.
Some moldings have convenient places to nail where visibility isn't that obvious, others don't. I don't like it if a nail won't fully set, which can be the case if nailing in a groove. It's also a pain if the nail misses your intended target and mars the delicate edge of a bead or groove. Finding knowledgeable painters that know how to fill and feather a nail hole is getting impossible in my area. I prefer not to leave that task to someone I don't know. If you are truly doing upper end work, than you should include paint prep in your price. Why put your work in the hands of a bodger with a wet, dirty finger? If I'm doing a very expensive project, I won't let anyone else do the prep, it's too important to leave to chance.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match