nicely done dan good job
and in most cases that's going to be perfectly sufficient
but i'm going to show you a few tips to install your baseboards
you're going to get an even better finish than the way old dan did over here
what do you think should we show them how we install baseboards no yeah go on it'll
be fun you show them your way and i'll show them mine no dan's a professional contractor
so he knows how to install baseboards properly which means
hang on then which means that dan knows that once your baseboard is cut to size you're going to want
to nail it to the wall to fasten the baseboard make sure that it stays secure on the wall
nicely done dan now dan also knows the importance of finishing that top
edge with a flexible sealant to finish that baseboard so that when he paints it
there's no black line which also makes the baseboard stronger and it will prevent cracking in
the future dan knows the importance of using good quality flexible sealants like this one from dat
so dan's using alex flex crown molding which has a really nice elasticity it's got great durability
and it's also paintable in half an hour so dan is well aware that when you're applying caulking to a
gap like that you don't want to put too much on just enough to seal the gap and get rid of that
seam it's also really important after you've applied the sealant to make sure it's firmly
adhered to both surfaces by smoothing it out with a finger a damp rag or anything else that will
help you tool that into a smooth finish so dan's got that caulking pretty smooth but he's gonna
take another swipe to make sure he gets as much of that excess caulking out of that joint as possible
so we don't have too much buildup because then the painters won't be too happy with dan now will they
looks like he's got the whole thing cleaned up and pretty nice install nicely done dan good job
so dan's done a pretty good job and in most cases that's going to be perfectly sufficient
but that's not refresh style i'm going to show you a few tips
to install your baseboards even cleaner so if you're painting your wall
and your trim two different colors you're gonna get an even better finish than the way of dan
did it over here why aren't you passing that equipment and i'm gonna show you a few things
so right off the bat it's important to note that there are lots of different types of caulking
this one this alex flex crown molding is going to be more than sufficient in almost every case
but it is important to know that if your wall is particularly wavy it might benefit you to switch
to a more flexible sealant an extreme stretch like this has more elasticity and it allows it to span
larger gaps without cracking over long periods of time another good tip when you're cutting your
caulking tube for the first time what you want to do is you want to cut it on an angle because
as you're laying the caulking in it allows you to lay that caulking on in a smoother more consistent
angle so the first thing that i'm going to do differently than dan did when i'm applying my
baseboard is i'm also going to apply some adhesive to the back of the board now this provides a
little more adhesion to the wall in case this wall shifts it will help avoid cracking significantly
so i'm going to run a nice healthy bead on the back of the entire baseboard and that alone would
probably hug this space board to the wall pretty sufficiently so the second thing i'm going to do
while i have the baseboard in this position is i'm going to run a healthy bead along the top
edge of the baseboard on the inside and the point of that is when i push this baseboard
against the wall by having the bead already behind the baseboard i know that as it oozes out on top
that i have sealant behind on top and in front so i know that that gap is completely sealed from
every direction which again helps from cracking later on down the road so a nice healthy bead
so now that i have the caulking on the top edge and on the back i can go ahead and put
that baseboard up against the wall and as i push into the wall what you'll notice is
the caulking oozing out from that back edge at the top that's what we want now that that baseboard is
nice and stuck to the wall i'm going to go ahead and nail it no no rather than using a pin nailer
or a 23 gauge i'm going to use an 18 gauge nailer now this guy shoots a little bit
thicker nails than a pinner does so this will do a better job holding the baseboard to the wall
also i'm going to make sure that i'm hitting the studs i'm not just aimlessly shooting pins into
the wall i'm going to go ahead and mark my studs ahead of time so that when i'm shooting nails i
know that i'm getting nail through the baseboard into the stud behind for extra holding power
so extra caulking bigger nails nails into studs makes sense
what do you think dan so i've got my stud marked out i know that there's one here
and i also know that there's one here so i'm going to shoot in those two places if you're going to be
putting another decorative molding on the bottom like a shoe mold or a quarter round shoot your
first brad nail low enough that that next piece will cover it then you don't have to fill two
sets of holes the first one nice and low and then another one up at the top same thing over here
so yes the nails are slightly larger which means slightly larger holes but you're filling pin
nails or at least you should be filling pin nails anyways so you might as well fill a hole that's
got a big strong nail in it that's my opinion at least no no no so now we come to the smoothing
portion which we saw dan do a couple of times the benefit of having the caulking on beforehand
is that now i know that caulking is all the way behind this baseboard so i know that by smoothing
it out i'm not removing too much because there's the perfect amount tucked behind
and in that seam so what i can do is rather than use my finger like dan did i'm going to use
a trowel because this is going to allow me to dig out more of this of the sealant so more of the
caulking than my finger would because this is a 90 degree angle and this it's round it's a circle
it's not going to get as much of that caulking out as the travel is it leaves you with a nice
sharp 90 degree edge where the baseboard meets the wall now this matters mainly if you're painting
your walls and your baseboard a different color so if the walls are gray or they're black or
they're blue and the baseboard is white having a rounded edge like dan's got is going to make
cutting that paint in on the baseboard a lot more difficult you're more prone to get wavy
lines because your brush can't ride and even groove this way i'm left with a 90 degree corner
super easy to cut really clean and if you have two different colors it will stand out
i promise you that this applies to any applied molding not just baseboards but if you put the
sealant on first you can take as much of that caulking off as you want and you know
that you've got a sufficient amount on there you can see from this angle look how much less
of a rounded edge i have on my side than man has on his side dens has a rounded radius so he's left
more sealant on the wall which means when he goes to paint that he's going to have a trickier time
cutting this edge than i will with mine this might seem overkill on a baseboard but this
applies to all applied moldings so think around your door casing or around your window frames
this kind of thing can be the difference between a sloppy diy job and a professional finish don't
touch that with your finger you don't need to i've already got it out here so there you go two ways
to finish your baseboards you can do it dan's way which is totally fine or you can do it the
refresh way which is a notch above fine which is better which is what we try to do in every
house right oh he's gone he's gone i gotta go take care of dan i think i hurt his feelings
hi i'm dan and i'm going to show you how to install baseboards
hi i'm steve from griffin nature hi i'm steve from refresh and i'm going to show
you how to install baseboards the right way and the more right way with or without dan