Base Molding How To

[sawsall]

Okay so I know it's been an eternity since I said I was going to have this project even started, but I really mean it now. I have a stack of 1"(x6 & x8) S4S Red Oak to mold my entire house, but have one question. What the heck do you do when you run into uneven walls? My father (an old time rigger of sorts) suggested harshly belt sanding the walls so they don't interfere. Should the material be removed from the oak itself or the walls? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It's only noticeably bad on 2 walls (out about 3/4" ish).

When I put my countertop in I just cutout the protruding drywall and when I put my tile backsplash up I grouted it all together and came out really great. However in this case I don't wish to caulk my base molding to the wall as DIY network suggests.
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/hi_fam...277082,00.html
Scroll down to figure 4 eesh.

Thanks for your help.

Dan

[drumpriest]

I also have a wall that's out pretty bad in my band room. I did the base in there, and there is a gap, if you are looking for it. I couldn't calk that if I wanted to, and I used stained red oak anyway.

I have just forgotten that it was there.

One option is to skim coat the walls, but if you are out 3/4", that's pretty bad. not sure what you'd need to do there.

[crokett]

Dan,

3/4" is too much to sand - I don't know any wallcovering that is that thick. What do you mean by out? are the walls not flat? A skim coat could work, except depending no how the other walls are finished you might have to to do all 4.

You could also hang drywall on top of shims to flatten them. I've seen that done. Except if there are windows, doors etc this changes the wall thickness and you'd have to rehang everything.

[drumpriest]

Dan, one other thought, make sure that the piece of board you held up is flat. I had an issue where both the wall and baseboard were out in opposite directions, could fit a small car in that gap.

[RayintheUK]

Would it be possible to run some vertical cuts most of the way through with a circular saw, Dan, so that the board will flex around the bad wall sections (like you would if bending into an arc)? I've done this once or twice, although it was with a plain board, so the small amount of making good on the top edge was easy to conceal. With a complicated moulding, it might not be so simple.

Ray.

[sawsall]

Well lets see, to explain what I mean by out. If I set a flat uncut board up against the wall to sort of prefit it, theres a lump in the wall that comes out towards me by about 3/4" due to the drywallers excessive shimming in areas, lack of shimming in others, and a ton of mud to conceal a butt joint. Both walls are this way, the only difference is that on the other wall, it is an enclosed porch and where the entry way is, is the furthest point out. So in theory if I took those 2 bad spots out of the equation, it would fit a lot tighter than it is now. But in order to do that the material needs to be removed. So in theory a belt sander could work, but I will have to remove a lot of material.

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/k.../install2.html

I used this principle when installing my countertop in the kitchen and now that I'm looking at the molding project, I'm seeing the walls are the same in a few spots like this. However these are the worst case that can't be scribed out because of the size (3/4" is the size of your typical everyday colonial old school moldings).

I know removing the drywall will work, however I am wondering if there's anything I'm missing or something else that I should be doing that maybe I haven't thought of that could be easier or would look better. Otherwise I'm going to have to go back and feather these lumps up once I remove the material. I'm wondering if its even worth it and will make any little difference later on down the road.

Oh yeah, I will also be recasing my doorways at the same time and noticed when removing some of the old casings that the flat boards covering the long side of the openings were notched at the top to accept the top board, is there any other tips or tricks that I should be aware of before recasing my doors? That notch at the top seems like it would make it easier and look nicer when done because that top board wouldn't have to match the side vertical boards angle, twist or anything and you don't get any gaps inbetween.

Thanks all for your help, I'm almost there.

Dan

[JimD]

Dan,

The base moulding I've installed has been flexible enough to bend over a gradual lump in the wall. 3/4 inch thick oak would not be very flexible. In my current house, I ran all the base and crown moulding in the basement but I used moulding from Lowes and Home Depot which is about 1/2 thick, softwood, and relieved on the back. The relief on the back serves two purposes. One is it makes it more flexible. The other is it makes it contact firmly at the top and bottom. In my previous house, I made some of the base moulding out of softwood that was 3/4 thick. I relieved the back by cutting wide but shallow dados on the back. It's a fair bit of work but it makes the moulding install better. When the moulding is bending like this you also have to be careful with the angle in the corners because the bend affects the angle.

Other than making the moulding more flexible, I think the options are removing some of the drywall - hopefully just the mud - or caulk. The more practical alternative is caulk. If you do not want the caulk to show, finish the oak before installation (it's a good idea anyway) and tape it off before you caulk. You should be able to make the caulk part of the wall and not part of the moulding.

Jim