How to Install Baseboards (& Door Trim)

How to install baseboards and door trim! Tips and tricks for easy removal and install of new trim, how to do bullnose corners, and more!

Hallways are a high traffic area, and that means your mouldings can look rough and worn down after years of use. Having 3 kids, a dog, and cats (and a woodworking husband!) means our hallway sees a lot of traffic. The mouldings in this area were original to the house and had seen better days. This post will go through how to remove, prep, and how to install baseboards to refresh your space!

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Our Hallway Before

Our Hallway has seen some changes over the years. The first thing we did before we moved was change out the old out dated closet doors for barn doors and changed out the flooring, you can read all about those plans

First, taking your

Second, using your

I like to start with the removal of the moulding on the door casings, starting at the top, and work my way to the floor. Once these are removed you can easily remove the base boards. If you go slowly you can usually get the moulding off in one piece in case you want to keep the moldings for another project.

Drywall Repair

If you end up tearing or marking up any of your drywall during moulding removal, here are 3 easy steps to get these areas all patched up.

First, sand the area down and remove any rough edges or loose paper.

Second using some

Add your Reveal

The first step is to take your

Next is to measure the vertical distance to this line on either side of the door casing (between the top horizontal mark and floor) - this is "Measurement 2" on the sketch. Then measure the horizontal distance at the top of the casing (between the top vertical marked lines) - this is "Measurement 1" on the sketch. As openings can vary I would always measure both sides of the doorway to ensure a proper fit.

These measurements will give you the cut length of the three pieces of mouldings to install around your door casing. A

Next I measured from the bottom and marked the distance "Measurement 1" onto the moulding. Using a

To install we start with the two vertical pieces. We start from the bottom by lining up the inside edge of the mouldings with the ⅛" marks. Next, add 2 nails approximately every 12", and stop about ⅔rds up the moulding (we will nail the top in after).

We put two nails in side-by-side so that one nail goes through the moulding into the casing, and the other goes through the moulding into the drywall.

You can use the

If the moulding fits between the vertical pieces and all the mouldings still line up with your ⅛" marks you can install it.

Using

For our project we didn't have any windows, but the process for adding trim to windows is vary similar to doors. For windows add all of your ⅛" marks (see sketch), then start with the bottom horizontal moulding first, and work your way to the top. Use the same method for measuring/cutting/install as above for the doorways.

How to Install Baseboards

Walls

To start, install baseboards by starting with the pieces in between the previously installed door case mouldings. Take a measurement between the moulding, cut, test fit, and then install. Use 2" brad nails to secure it in place with a little bit of

If your home has radius or bullnose corners you will need to add an additional piece of trim to get a professional look. Looking at the diagram above you can see how to properly finish a bullnose corner with baseboard.

Start by cutting several small pieces with two opposite 22.5° angles. I cut a few at ⅞", ¾", ⅝", ½" to use as templates. Then cut two scrap pieces of moulding with opposite 22.5° angles (any length shorter than your wall). If you need a visual of this process this video shows

Then you can measure the distance between the lines you just put on the wall and the edge of the baseboard or door casing.

We found that the ⅞" wide (or 7/16" on the short side) worked best for the bullnose corners in our house.

When you're happy with how everything fits, you can glue and nail the boards to the wall.

How to Caulk Baseboard and Trim

Once all the glues sets you can start on getting your baseboards and trim ready for paint. The first step is to add caulking to all the edges where the baseboards and trim meet the wall and door/window casings. You can also add caulking to the inside and outside corners of your baseboards if your mitres didn't perfectly line up.

We like to use DAP's

When the caulking is dry you can fill and nail holes and uneven spots with

Next, prime all of your trim. With the primer dry you might find that you missed filling a nail hole or caulking an edge. If this happens, address the defect and give a quick second coat of primer before painting.

Painting

Once the primer drys you can paint the top coat on the mouldings. We like using a semi-gloss finish. Generally we try and keep all the trim in the house the same colour. This makes future touch ups really easy and in a lot of the scenarios the trim flows from room to room and it makes sense to all be the same colour.

We find it usually takes 2 coats to get a nice finish. Once the paint dries remove any tape and enjoy your new baseboards and trim!

DIY Video Tutorial

For a full video on us updating our base boards and door trim check our YouTube video below!

Our Finished Hallway!

We couldn't be happier with how the trim turned out. We also updated our 3 interior doors to match the other doors we had in the home.

The new mouldings really refreshed the space and matched the aesthetic in the rest of the house.

Its crazy we waited so long to update mouldings in this space. The new moldings give it a nice modern look and makes it feel like a totally different hallway!

If you want to turn that boring closet into a beautiful looking built in using only trim and MDF, check out

Or if you have a small hole in your wall and want a quick and easy way to making it look like it never happened check