favorite way to attach baseboard

I've used standard finish nails over the decades but have recently used

not a good move you ll get smiles on the wood

My guns shoot 16ga instead of 18ga. The thicker wire and bigger head make for very good holding and pulling power. As with manually driven finish nails, you still need good technique. The same tricks you can use with manually hammering finish nails can also be used with a nail gun.

replying to Electric Comet, Iggy wrote: I agree with MIKE. If the wall's wavy or I need to either really cinch a joint or to bow-out a twist, I go with Finish Screws...just a little larger than Finish Nails, but all of the benefits of screws.

Shoot the nails in at slightly different angles, this prevents the wood from being able to pull straight off the nails.

That's one of the tricks! :-)

Can you share more? Please?

To start off with the above... shooting two nails at angles to form an X or V is also a way to attach trim to sheetrock where there is no stud available.

As with manual hammer nailing, you can drive two or more nails close to one another in order to pull a board closer to the surface to which it is being attached. If you're putting trim on a wall that is bowed or whatever, you drive one nail which holds the piece, then another close to it which will push it a little closer, then drive another which pushes it further. Usually, when you start this process, the head of the first nail gets revealed above the face of the trim. You can then use a nail-set with a hammer and manually nail each nail in until the trim piece is flush. Do NOT use angled nailing during this process. You can angle nail once it's flush to anchor it.

Nail perpendicular to the grain to avoid splitting. If it's possible to see the grain orientation at the end of a board, try to nail across the grain, instead of parallel to it.

Use a shim or other thing piece of wood to rest the nail gun tip on to avoid marring the surface of the wood. This can also be used to leave the nail proud of the surface for temporary nailing. The scrap wood keep the nail from being countersunk. You break off the scrap leaving a nail head which can be pulled. I do this a lot when hanging crown to hold a long section up on the wall, while nailing one end. Once the end is secured, I move down and pull the temporary nail to finish the rest. A few times, I've actually hit the right spot with the temp nail and didn't have to take it out. :-)

Orient the nail to prevent boomeranging. Every flat wire brad nail had a wide and narrow side. In hardwoods, they have a tendency to curve left or right (often traveling with any curve in the grain) and turn

When working with very hard woods like white oak, you can lubricate nail gun nails just like separate manually driven nails. You can lube an entire clip with wax or spray or even the graphite from your pencil lead. A little bit goes a long way.

Learn how to use the depth adjustment on your nailer. Use correct air pressure. When possible, shoot a few in scrap pieces to fine tune the settings.

I'm sure there are others I don't think about until I'm doing it. :-)

-MIKE-

Great post! Lots of good information there. Not much to improve on there, b ut would like to add a couple more thoughts.

One of the the methods I change about 20 or more years ago is how I do scar f joints. First, I don't cut them at 45 degrees. When we went from soft p ine to hard pine, the 45s were harder to make with their feathered edges. I nconsistencies in molding thickness made it hard to get a consistent joint. For production work, the home stores and now almost all lumber yards carr y that super hard, brittle, finger jointed crap that can be different not o nly in thickness, but in profile. Enter the 30 degree joint.

Don't know why it took me so long to start doing that with trim as when I w as a house framer we got rough cedar delivered for trims, fascia, etc., tha t was all different widths. That was my solution.

I use 30 degrees on all scarf joints, including crown molding. If one side of your joint is a little thinner, slip it under the adjoining piece and pu ll it back until it matches. Never looks right with a 45, but closer to a b ox joint doesn't reflect the difference as much.

I never nail through the joint itself on trims whether it is a 90 degree mi ter or a scarf. Trim wood is too brittle and splits too easily these days. On a scarf joint I only nail the lap side, and then away from the joint a s far as possible. When dealing with a tougher install due to irregular wa lls, I mark the studs at the joints so I can catch a stud with a nail that is put in at an angle, but away from the joint.

If I am still doubtful of joint integrity and its ability to hold, I usuall y have a cartridge of PL400 in the caulk gun. A couple of "Hershey Kisses" on each side of the joint and an X nail pattern will certainly secure it. I keep a cartridge of PL400 around when I am trimming as on small pieces I don't nail. Little 2,3,4 inch pieces, or pieces that are hard to nail are simply glued in. Since me or my company is always doing the painting, I app reciate not having to fill fiddly little pieces that have cracked or have n ail holes I can't easily fill to make them go away.

If there is no carpet, or if I am putting on a shoe molding, when I put on base I shoot the bottom of the trim straight into the sole plate about 1/2" above the floor (no caulk/putty), and shoot into the studs using my 18ga b rad nailer with 2" brads. If the studs are on 24" centers I shoot three bra ds per stud, if 16" o.c. then only two. If I am putting on thicker trim li ke the 3/4"X8" that is popular I use my 16ga straight trim gun or my 15ga a ngle trim gun that shoot the equivalent of an 8d. Again, since me or mine a re usually painting as well, I like as few and as small of nail holes as I can get.

Personally, I don't see any reason to hand nail unless it is a piece or so. The wood we get today is so poor that it splits like crazy, and so when I hand nail I drill pilot holes with the trim on the saw horses before naili ng. OTOH, you can get a pretty decent 18ga brad gun from Harbor Freight fr om time to time for only $15. Brad nailing sure helps keep the time spent a nd the frustration of broken trim down.

Robert

I don't spend much time straightening my baseboard installs. The reason th ere are gaps, waves, and snaky appearance is that the sheet rockers have us ually left humps in their joints. The walls are pretty straight, but the t ape/float joints are a fail. So before starting, I check for the humps. A long wall, I use a string to check, a short one I eyeball it. I am glad t o push and nail 1/8", but not much more. If it is too much, then the wavin ess of the wall is not reflected onto the trim and is more noticeable than ever. So I cut the pieces as long as I can, and if I can't put on a run in one piece, I go from center of the hump to center of the next hump. If I ha ve a 1/4" gap between humps, I stick a long thin wedge in behind the trim t o keep me 1/8" from the wall (half the gap from the wall) and secure it. I pull my wedge and the caulk from painting will hide the 1/8" gap that rema ins.

I'm not sure when or why I went to 30degree scarfs, but I did a long time ago, mostly for the same reasons you mention. 30 is easier to cut and line up. Another reason for 30 over 45 is that a 30 degree miter will shrink less so the joint will be less noticeable when it opens.

I got in the habit of not nailing the underneath piece, too, because nailing it always seems to pull it too far against the wall on one side making it difficult to get a good seem. This usually happens at the bottom of base where the trim wants to pull against the sole plate at the sheetrock gap. Yeah, you could shim, but then that might push the bottom out and you have the same problem.

I used to use plain old hot glue for joints. I switched to CA glue a few years back, but those joints can pop loose after curing, when you shoot them. I saw this product at the last remodeling show and I'm thinking of getting it and switching to it for most trim jobs. It's VERY impressive and useful. Not cheap, but I think it would pay for itself on the first job.

I probably should get an 18ga nailer.... wait a sec. Hilarious! I am not kidding... as I was typing that sentence, I remembered that I have a brand new Porter Cable nailer that came "free" with the little pancake compressor I got for $99 a few years back. I just went out to the shop to what gauge it is and sure enough, it's an

It's amazing the difference in size between 16ga and 18ga. I used an

Merry Christmas!

Thank you big time. I'll more than likely be using at least a couple within a few weeks, I already see some that could have helped me in the past.

Merry Christmas!

A couple things I have not seen mentioned. SWMBO and I used to block out Thanksgiving week for a major room renovation...paint pergo crown moulding, new baseboards, tile, etc. We've upgraded everything except the kitchen now.

We'd pull up flooring, and use 1.5 inch blue painter tape to mark stud positions on the wall. We prefinished the new baseboards or crown with stain/varnish or paint, depending on the room. We also used the 30 degree angle to join pieces.

When installing the base, we'd tear a bunch of 2 inch or so pieces of 1/2 blue painters tape, stick those on the base centered on the blue tape to show us where the stud was, and hit it with an 18 or 15 ga brad/nail in an X pattern through the tape. 18 worked almost every time for us and is a smaller hole to hide.

Once a wall was done, I'd start measuring for the next wall and SWMBO came along and topped up the nail holes with the tape still in place. White spackle for white base, and wax stick for stain. Let the spackle dry and pull off the tape and you are done. No sanding or touch up required. Works for crown too.