Question About How to Scribe Baseboards

[Michael Kellough]

I'm definitely with Per and the others on the use of quarter-round, or a nice shoe-moulding.  A shoe-moulding can come in various shapes and profiles, allowing you to  match the dimensions and proportions of your baseboard and casing.

If you want to scribe, I suggest two tools.  A set of offset wheel gaugeshttp://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=50272&cat=1,42936,50298&ap=1

and an electric planer.

Cut to length and lay the baseboard in place - level.  Raise the baseboard the appropriate offset distance, using the highest part of the floor as a reference point.  Mark the board with a metal scribe or 2mm mechanical pencil and wheel guage.

If you have to remove alot of material, you can use a table saw or jig saw to get close.   With only 1/8 to 1/4 inch, I'd set the planer to about 1/32, and start taking of the material in short passes.  You can then tilt the planer in and out of the material to get closer or farther away from the line.  Remember to angle it "up" from the floor, for a cleaner line. 

This method works well for me, when scribing window seats and book cases to plaster walls.

I like this small belt sander. With a Festool Mini vac the dust collection was good enough to use it in my client's bedroom.

 

[danrush]

Michael, you're right.  That pc sander is great for scribing and such.  When I first picked it up, I thought it was more like a toy, but it sees everyday use now.  It's a tad heavy though.

You're also correct about the gravity keeping any gaps closed.  I didn't get my thought out well.  I always thought the main purpose of base shoe was to conceal any gaps if you don't scribe, and mostly to conceal gaps that may occur from the floor moving laterally.  doesn't most movement occur along the plane of the floor?  I know some floors can move up to a 1/2" or more.  But I don't think there is that much movement verticallybetween floor and wall.

Just a thought, Dan

 

[Michael Kellough]

Michael, you're right.  That pc sander is great for scribing and such.  When I first picked it up, I thought it was more like a toy, but it sees everyday use now.  It's a tad heavy though.

You're also correct about the gravity keeping any gaps closed.  I didn't get my thought out well.  I always thought the main purpose of base shoe was to conceal any gaps if you don't scribe, and mostly to conceal gaps that may occur from the floor moving laterally.  doesn't most movement occur along the plane of the floor?  I know some floors can move up to a 1/2" or more.  But I don't think there is that much movement verticallybetween floor and wall.

Just a thought, Dan

If you can manage to turn the work vertical so the sander is climbing it becomes nearly weightless. And use a coarse belt.

What kind of floor moves that much? I mean, is that from a different kind of construction? I'm thinking of standard 2 1/4" floor boards, since they are nailed down every 2 1/4" there isn't any cumulative shrinkage is there? Just wondering, I'm not an expert.

 

[Per Swenson]

The wise acre again,

Folks, I work in New Jersey.

The home of the take the money and run shoddy construction,

followed by the truly uninformed buying public.

Granted there is no such thing as a perfectly plumb, level, and square house,

but around here, the up to yer eyeballs level of crap construction, brand new or 50 years old is

the norm. This goes all the way up the chain. From the framers laying the deck,

to the poor slob who installs the floor. Rare that a floor installer is going to take the time

to fix the framer's mess, if he even knows how.

So now you need two factors to come together at the same time.

The understanding client who realizes how much effort it will take to polish a turd, and is willing

to pay for said polishing, and a fella who actually knows how to do it.

And here in the armpit of America every Tony, Diego, and Hernando will tell you sure...we fix.

and they are lying.

Setting base in a financial rush?

Set it a 1/4 inch of the floor and level. Add appropriate shoe or 1/4 round.

We make our own, with one of those woodmasters. ;D

Per

 

[Per Swenson]

Sorry,

I forgot to add the part about the addition genius's.

You know the guy's. 70 year old house, Mason just goes and puts the foundation

in level where it attach's to the house. Framers throw the deck on and stick frame in

one adrenaline fueled day. But the original house was sunk two inches out of level

on 16 feet.  What now?

This is the norm.

I told one fella if I heard from him one more time, "it look's good from my house"

I would break his arms...well he realized I wasn't kidding.

I am done with complaining for the day about stuff nobody here can remedy.

Per

 

[pmkierst]

America is funny also, take this nonsense for example.

1.4 million inflated dollars. Mdf trim. Builders doors,

melamine kitchen, tom dickn harry windows.

Ugh. You didn't mention the  ugly railing and the unbelievably cheap, crappy coloured builders carpet. Size trumps all, eh.

 

[Per Swenson]

Yup P.

There is that but, here is the true deal and it ain't size.

I sometimes temper my writing style by trying to inflect the vernacular.

So try and picture this conversation between Mummy and Daughter Ashley.

"Mummy, Everybody who is anybody here in Bedminstah owns a horse, or at least rides.

So why can't I have one?"

"Ashley! Your Father is on the golf course in the back yard, please pester him."

All money and no brains.

Per

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Hey Everyone,
I just want to say, reading posts like this makes me feel like a student.  We have to set up some kind of FOG virtual shop class or something.
Thanks for the great information, and keep it going!
Matthew

 

[Jim Becker]

I recently had a "lesson" in how trim work gets done by someone who really knows how trim work is to get done...the finish carpenter  (who is also a major jack of every other trade when need be) for the GC who built our addition did amazing work and watching him carefully was very educational. And I'm glad I paid attention since I'm now the one doing the finish trim work in the great room adjacent to the addition as we finalize "melding" the spaces together such that you don't know where the new and old start/stop.

The base is 5 1/2" tall. The floors are, well...wide pumpkin pine that was originally surfaced and sanded in place from old barn boards. Let's just say that quarter round is not optional! But that was the easy part. Getting the joinery on the continuous bead that flows across the trim work when you don't have an exact 90? angle between the door casing and the base is so much fun. Thank goodness it's painted...

Oh, pertinent to the question of bending, I was able to successfully "bend" one 12' section of base by paying attention to the crown on the board I used in that spot. There was a need for about a 1/2" or more bend to follow the floor in that area and it worked out nicely. Scribing would have probably looked out of place.
----

Per, on the question of "Why not quarter round?"...sometimes it's a matter of style. For our home, it's absolutely in line with being appropriate, but in some more modern settings, it would be out of place, at least in many folks' eyes.

 

[Tinker]

A few years ago, I redid The Boss's kitchen.  I did not build the cabinets, but had a cab shop do them.  When the guy came to measure (i had worked out the design), i told him the floor was out of level and the walls were out of plumb.  "That doesn't matter" he said.  I figured he knew what he was talking about and woul make allowances.  In 12 ft diagonal across the floor, it was 1 1/4" out of level.  The walls were 3/4" out of plumb.  When I went to install cabs, I drew my lines on wall and figured how much to cut from bottom of cabs to make the counters level and the upper cabs level.  somehow, i worked the levl so it is not noticable.  On one side of the room, i had to chop out 1/2" from the top of the wall and 3/4" from the bottom of the wall on the far side.  You have to look real close to see any problem.  The tile above the counter to the bottom of cabs fit perfect and you can put a marble anywhere on the counter and it won't roll.  Put one on the floor, ant it becomes jet propelled.

i ran into the level/plumb problems years before that when i panelled my daughter's bedroom with plywood (fake that my daughter picked out), built cabinets, shelves and pocket door.  Somehow, it all worked (in there, i just worked with parallels and threw away the level and plumb-bob.  For an old mason contracttor, it ended up looking pretty goosd

 

[Per Swenson]

Wayne,

Around here in North Jersey, we are littered with Hovnanian condos or worse.

Each and everyone of them has manufactured trusses that are improperly installed.

what they did in order to save a few bucks,

is toenail the bottom span into the tops of the load bearing walls, rather then use brackets.

What happens with that each and everytime is the trusses flex a inch and a half and stay that way.

So not only will you get a ceiling that is out said 1 1/2" every 32" it draws the walls as well.

Try explaining that to a prospective client who justs has to have crown molding everywhere.

And yes, we get a lot of condo calls.

Per

 

[stevelf]

My 2 cents...
Having grown up with the skilsaw being my main tool when I couldn't afford all the fancy tools-of-the-time ( many yrs. ago...), I got very good using said skilsaw....
Now when I have a client who insists on no quarter-round at the bottom of the base, and I tell them the alternative (scribing all the base in.. ), I scribe the pieces ( after evaluating the HIGH point of the rooms...).
Then I use a sharp blade to exactly score my scribe mark. I then use the skilsaw set at, say, 4 degrees, and perfectly cut so the edge of the blade is going along my razor-blade-cut in the wood. When you get this technique down, the razor cut enables your saw cut to literally "peel" precisely where you want it. Usually the first cut is friggin' PERFECT.
  Then again I have developed a very precise way to cope crown, such that my copes are usually right on the first time. That was not the case years ago with me and crown. It always came out perfect (stain grade), but the process was VERY frustrating... I use the Bosch angle-finder...evaluate the spring angle at each inside joint, and let the digital technology flow from there. Now I actually enjoy crown !!

 

[stevelf]

--alright, just to add to the baseboard thing, I use my beltsander or a hand plane after the skilsaw, if I have to. But it can be dead-on even without any final adjustments...

 

[nickao]

That's why I love my little tiny PC belt sander!

Little belt sander

 

[stevelf]

Nice, Nikao..! I use ( until Festool makes one...) the Bosch one. I don't remember the #, but you know the one...can sand right up to the edge...

 

[petiegolfer]

My Aunt lives in a farm house that dates from the 1400's...in the UK. The guy who has done a lot of work for the family was hanging a rustic plank type door to shut off a small alcove. He is a real perfectionist...he hung the door level everything was great until he stood back and looked at it in relation to the rest of the area the door was in...it looked pants!

The other problem was that the door wouldnt open fully because the old quarry stone floor was so on the piss! He end up cutting an angle chunk off the top and the bottom...it looked right and it opened fully??

This is the house which has a room where a bed in the corner of the room has two house bricks under the leg most in the room to make it level enough to sleep in! ;D

Piers