# baseboard transition - Can't get that angle



## JohnDeknis (Jan 5, 2013)

Hello,

I am having a hard time trying to transition baseboard from my floor up to my stairs. I've read a few similar posts here, but I am not grasping the how-to of doing this(yet) 

I would consider myself an absolute beginner when it comes to carpentry and I doubt I could describe what I am looking to do properly...so let me show what I attemping with some pictures.









1 of 3 









2 of 3









3 of 3 - my attempt

It almost looks like it fits...but I did that with a lot of hacking and not method to my madness. I am trying to figure out what angle to use to cut the finial pieces. I borrowed an electric saw that can cut angles up to 60 degrees which I am using to make all the angles.

Any comments and help would be really appreciated

Thanks

John


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## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

The staircase skirt board is usually not finished with another trim like you have. But at a brief glance, I think what you have will pass. Just wood filler, caulk and sand so you don't have gaps at transitions.
I would have cut the skirtboard to butt the trim, and use quarter round to finish the top of the skirt board.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

That looks like casing your tying to use for a base board.
I've never seen anyone trying to use that to cap a skiirt board.
More often it's cap moulding.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...EF829487ECA1486D4A01790&qpvt=base+cap+molding

Also why why would you not sand prime and paint that skirt board before installing anything?


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

if you have a multi tool, i would use it to cut teh skirtboard back closer to the first tread.. make the cut perfectly plumb and at a point that it will be atleast 2" higher than the baseboard. this way you can go with the 3rd picture shows only with longer peices which makes it cleaner


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Number 3 looks good---your molding is a bit unusual for a skirt board cap---but I thin it looks rather nice---

Carp Dad offered up a good bit of advice---I like to glue in the small bits of trim--brads will often split them---


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Base never looks right running up the stairs imo.


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

mikes right about small mouldings splitting. 18 gauge brads will split them .. if you have access to a 23 gauge use that .the micro pins wont split it


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## jagans (Oct 21, 2012)

I think I would have plumb cut the end of the stringer, filled in a triangular piece to continue the stringer all the way to the floor on that angle then divided the remaining angle by two, cut and installed the trim. That does look like casing, but its kind of nice.


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## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

looks perfectly fine to me other then it looks like your first long piece is to short. looks like you can stick your finger between the end of the stringer and base. i've done it like this and i see why your doing it, because the drywall around the stairs looks nasty! good job


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## Duckweather (Mar 26, 2012)

Picture #1 looks like where your first piece should be not #2 or 3.


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## Seattle2k (Mar 26, 2012)

It looks like poly moulding, rather than wood. Is that still prone to splitting?


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

if its hand nailed it can still split unless a pilot hole is drilled, mind you thats within the last 3" of a length.. gun nailing is no issue


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## Keith Mathewson (Sep 1, 2010)

To me that looks more like case than base but either way I wouldn't run it up the rake run. If you wanted to pick up some detail to transition from floor to floor I would pick the top bead detail to carry up the rake. Cut the "base" square and slide it along the wall, over the skirt until you find the point where the skirt intersects the "base" at the bead detail, cut the skirt plumb at that point. Rip that part off of a piece of the molding and miter to run up the rake.


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

after a closer look its actually a store bought boston header profile, its a simpler smaller version of what custom builders will have the trim carpenters custom build on site out of several pieces of trim


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## haysnik (Aug 15, 2016)

We recently had our stairs tiled. The current tile hangs over the edge by 1/2". We are trying to figure out how to baseboard down the steps and cover the cut tile edges. The problem is that the stairs are not all 90° angles, so it's not as easy as putting 2 45° angles together. Should we add sheet rock to build out the wall to flush the 1/2" over hang then baseboard down the stairs? How do you baseboard when the angles are off?


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## Colbyt (Jan 27, 2014)

Probably should be in a new thread so we both might get moved.

IMO, filling in the gaps with DW and mud would look the most modern and be the easier option. I might use 3/8 and plan on filling with mud.

If you have your heart set on a trim board each angle will need to be calculated or scribed. A trick is to cut a few short pieces at 1 degree increments above and below 45 and test fit them until you find a match. There are fancier ways to do it but that works well for a newbie. IE 44 might pair with 46 or it 44 might need 47.


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