I’m be interested in suggestions for installing baseboard vertically/plumb over the bottom bevel where drywall is hung horizontally. Other than (a) nailing a shim strip along the bottom or (b) driving in drywall screws with their heads left protruding, are there any easy and effective solutions? Thanks.
Sue
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Replies
The easiest solution is dealing with them in corners and casing intersections only.
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instead of nailing shims, I just put in a few finish nails, and tap the molding up to them, and sink them into the wall, or into the back of the molding if needed to look right
It seems to me that the 2 methods that you mentioned are about as easy as it can get.
For shims, which I think is the better way to go, try strips of self-stick vinyl tile. They're just about the right thickness and they don't even need to be secured because they're, um... self-stick.
For shims, which I think is the better way to go, try strips of self-stick vinyl tile
I like that idea!
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Another good method, I think from Gary Katz, is to use sheetrock screws. Drive them in at the bottom of the wall, until they're in plane with the walls surface.
I like drywall nails cuz you can set them out a little and tap on the baseboard (with a block of course).
You could have just swabbed that bevel with your drywall compound. Keeps the weevils from hiding behind your baseboard versus using screws to hold out the bottom of the base.
Some will cut off the bevel and add it to the mid field between the two horizontal bevels.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
You beat me to it.
When hanging drywall all these sort of issues is supposed to be considered then. I cut the bevel off the bottom, knowing I'm going to hang a strip in the middle anyway. That's when working on 9' walls as I mostly encounter.
If for any reason the bevel is left at the bottom, I fill it when I'm mudding.
Finally, if I'm not the one hanging and mudding, and I can't get the person doing it to cut the bevel off or mud it, I cut long strips to fill it.
I've never used nail or screw heads to push the baseboard out, and think I prefer a solid surface to nail to.~ Ted W ~
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So you don't use 54" wide sheets for a 9' wall? Sounds like a lot more work hanging an extra strip in the middle.
"It depends on the situation..."
So you don't use 54" wide sheets for a 9' wall? Sounds like a lot more work hanging an extra strip in the middle.
I generally do 1 or 2 rooms at most. Go to Lowes, grab some drywall, get it done. I can't even fit 54" in my van. If I was hanging 100 sheets, then I would order 54" and have it delivered. But it's just not practical for the small jobs I do. The strip in the middle isn't much extra work. ~ Ted W ~
Cheap Tools! - MyToolbox.netSee my work - TedsCarpentry.com
I'd second cutting the bevel off in the first place. If you are adding a strip in the middle anyways just make it a bit wider."There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
I agree with phil, I just use drywall mud and no nails.
I didn't do the drywall on this job....was just called in to install the baseboard. Thanks, though, for ALL the suggestions. Sue
I either rip or buy 1/8x1" lath and tack it on with a brad nailer. A 1/4" crown stapler will work but I rarely carry one with installations.I just score the length and snap off a piece instead of sawing. Takes 15 minutes too install the laths on an average floor,maybe 1200sf or so.Better than adjusting screws or messing around with mud.
mike
I use construction adhesive and no nails for the last 2 feet on the bottom of the base. I nail the end at the top only. If it is real bad I will add a piece of shim, and if the drywall is busted out at the corner I will use a drywall screw..I work on new construction mostly. With carpet I install all of my base before carpet [1/2" up from the floor] and use the construction adhesive, if the corner sucks in a little I slip my 6" flat bar behind the base and pry the bottom of the base tight to my coped piece. With flooring you have to be a little more picky on adding shim or screws because you can't get under the base to pry it out.
Dave
Theres usually a gap at the bottom between the drywall and the floor so I rip 1/2' strips out of scrap base and cut them about 1' long and set them in that gap about every other stud. In the corners I use shim tips between the base and the drywall to keep the bottom of the base tight .
Wayne
Edited 4/11/2009 8:52 am ET by hammerelbow1
You guys should really try the sheetrock screw idea. Much quicker and easier to adjust than a bunch of tiny pieces of wood, IMO.
I might try that with a piffin screw
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Call it a Piffinshim?
You guys should really try the sheetrock screw idea. Much quicker and easier to adjust than a bunch of tiny pieces of wood, IMO.
1/8" is 1/8". What's to adjust? Only thing I see is the nail has to be right next to the screw, lest it pulls the bb in while the screw pushes it out, and end up with wavy bottoms. ~ Ted W ~
Cheap Tools! - MyToolbox.netSee my work - TedsCarpentry.com
OK, don't try it--
If your tapers keep a consistent 1/8" for you at the bottom of every sheet, you're lucky. Plasterers are the worst--I've seen as much as 1/2" of goop where they let the mud ooze.
OK, don't try it--
If your tapers keep a consistent 1/8" for you at the bottom of every sheet, you're lucky. Plasterers are the worst--I've seen as much as 1/2" of goop where they let the mud ooze.
I guess it makes more sense to most here, as they work with different crews doing different tasks. But for me, I am the taper... and the dw hanger, and the carpenter.. So I know everything is going to line up like it's supposed to. I cut the bevel off the bottom. But if I forget to, then I mud the bottom nice and flush. That said, the other poster who mentioned using 1/8" strips seems it would be a lot faster, so I'll do that from now on.
Yet another poster asked why I don't just use 54" sheets for the 9' walls I generally work on. For various reasons, that's just not practical for the small jobs I do. But if it were, cutting the bottom bevel off would leave me 2" short at the top. So in that case I would use the 1/8" strips.
I guess if someone else is hanging the drywall and they don't get it flat on the bottom, then the screws would make sense. But it sure seems like a lot of extra work getting all those screws just the right level.~ Ted W ~
Cheap Tools! - MyToolbox.netSee my work - TedsCarpentry.com
Good points--there's no one right answer.
I prefer to run my baseboard horizontally since most of my floors run that way too.
;)
Most of our SR or plaster walls get finished plumb down and we use taller base, but there have been a few times I have run into the problem you have and I spot a few dabs of PL const adhesive near bottom to mash the baseboard into, then nail at top angled down.
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Here's what I sent to FHB, although they didn't print it:
************************************
The Copemaster Trim Adjustor screw (FHB #193, p. 40)looks interesting. Like Gary Katz, I too used to drive a drywall screw into the bottom plate to use as an adjustable shim, and I had the same adjustment problems that he did.
But now I use cabinet-installation screws that have a Torx T-15 drive. Any style of screw will work, though, as long as it's got a T-15 drive. I use a 2" long, ball-detent driver bit made by GRK. It has about 1" of skinny shank just back of the business end that's only about 5/32" in diameter-- plenty of length to reach through most base, and requiring a smaller hole than a trimhead screw.
Start by holding the base in position and drilling a 1/8" hole through it, making a pilot hole in the bottom plate. Move the base out of the way, and drive your screw into the pilot hole. Enlarge the hole in the baseboard to clear the driver bit, and you'll be able to adjust the screw in and out with the base in place.
This system works with crown,too, which often twists itself a little too flat to the wall while being nailed off. And although coping is still a better way to go, if you decide to miter inside corners when, say, you're running crown around a 45-degree-angle bay, this is a great way to squeeze those miters tight. But of course, as Gary says, heaven forbid.
AitchKay
I'm in that situation right now. Not sure why drywall bevel is at bottom of a normal height room. I did some trim with nails at top and bottom of trim. Nails fighting each other.
I think on 2nd room, I will nail ONLY along the top half of the trim into the studs, and NOT nail the bottom at all. The benefit of this is that the top of the trim will be nice and flush against the wall for a nice look, and the trim will still be solidly anchored to the wall. They are usually no prying forces on trim to pull it out from wall. There will be a very thin cavity between bottom of trim and wall. The bedrooms are carpeted, and no one will ever know.
The perfect crime. :-)
Done anyone know of any serious fallout from this decision?
Serious fallout?
Only when the carpet layer stretches the carpet and tucks the edge, pushing the base tight to the wall.