Installing Casing/Baseboard

[Mike Bittel]

I will be installing new Casing & Baseboard in my house after new carpet is installed. Does anyone see a problem in running my 12" mitre saw in the house to make the cuts Vs. making repeated trips outside? Ideally I would have another guy outside on the saw and yell measurements down to him, but I don't have that luxury. I was thinking that the dust not caught by the mitre's dust bag would vacuum up pretty easily when I am finished. I am replacing all of the casing/base in the upstairs of a 2600 SF home.

Thanks, -Mike

[Leon]

Yeah I see a big problem. You get saw dust all over the inside of your house. I have installed base board and shoe molding for a builder and last summer my house after tile was laid. On a piece of paper I draw a line with an angle on each end indicating if the end of the piece should be cut with an outside or inside miter. Beside that line I write the length of the "WALL" I keep in mind that on out side corners that I measure and mark the back side of the molding. Naturally the pieces with outside corners will be longer than the walls. I proceed to the next piece and do the same and stay in order. I cut up 6 to 8 pieces and then carry them back in to nail them in place.

[B a r r y]

Are you married?

If so, you might want to ask her.

My miter saw tosses an awful lot of dust, much of which dosen' make it to the ground. If you've got an empty room, go for it. If not, I'd do it outside./

Barry

[Bay Area Dave]

my 12" makes a mess, even with a dust collection bag. I'd never bring it into the house. YMMV.

dave

Mike Bittel wrote:

[Bernie Hunt]

I'm in the minority here, but then I used an empty room with hard wood floors. Yes the saw throws up a lot of dust and mess, but it saves a ton of time. In my care it was upstairs work and my shop is in the basement. The last time I needed it up stairs I closed the bedroom doors and cut in the hall/landing at the top of the stairs. When I got done, I swept up and made sure to sweep the top of the base and shoe moldings and SHMBO didn't even know when she got home. Well she did say, hey, when did you put up the new molding hahahaha. If you have carpet everywhere then maybe with painters drop cloths under and around the saw, but that's a big risk.

Bernie

[KYHighlander]

The exercise will do you good, I lost 30 pounds cutting in the shop and then bringing it in to put up. My shop is 75 ft away from the house.

[xrongor]

i just went through this, dust city.

ill tell you what i ended up doing. make a bunch of measurements then make a bunch of cuts instead of one cut per trip.. i got most of it cut in a single 'run' saving any critical 'fit and makeup' pieces until the end. for those last few cuts i just broke down and used a hand saw in a miter box. took about the same time to saw one as it did to run it to the shop.

in fact, i probably should have just hand sawed it all...

randy

[david]

cutting in the house will eventually coat everything with dust...you might try hanging sheet plastic to make a small sealed "cutting room" like those zip-wall systems.

I will measure and cut a whole room, or several pieces at once. dry fit them, mark any corrections if needed, cut all the corrections at once, etc...

david

[RB]

I'd look at replacing the baseboard before the carpet. Otherwise you will be very unhappy the next time you want to replace the carpet. Tack strips will be under the baseboards and you'll have to remove the baseboard to remove the carpet.

RB

Mike Bittel wrote:

[Pat Barber]

You need somthing that was invented Waaaaaay back yonder.

It's called a "miter box" or A Manual Miter Saw like this:

I will be installing new Casing & Baseboard in my house after new carpet is

[xrongor]

see, this is the second person to think this is simply the way to go... the more i think about it, the more i am convinced that would have been the fastest way.

randy