# Repair poorly fitted baseboards



## Drizzt (Apr 6, 2011)

Hello. I recently bought a house and would like to do some "polishing work" on the white painted baseboards. The walls have bullnose corners, and the previous owner cut and installed the baseboards, but they don't match up nicely at the seams. Would it be a good idea to fill any small gaps with wood filler or paintable caulk? I will try to post some pictures later today when I'm home.

Thanks in advance!


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Vinylized spackling compound would be my suggestion.


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## painter162 (Apr 6, 2011)

Caulking, use wet finger to push into cracks, use a tile sponge to wipe off excess and smooth. (use paintable caulkning)


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## Drizzt (Apr 6, 2011)

Thanks for the replies. Here are a few pictures. Some will probably have to be removed and reattached, if not buying more boards and replacing. I'm new to this though, so I doubt mine will look a lot better. But I'm persistent and would rather do one perfect thing in a day, than 10 hack jobs in a day.


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## tcleve4911 (Nov 6, 2010)

Drizzt said:


> Some will probably have to be removed and reattached, if not buying more boards and replacing.
> 
> If you buy new baseboard, one issue you will have is making that outside corner curved around the bullnose corner.
> 
> ...


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

tcleve4911 said:


> Drizzt said:
> 
> 
> > Some will probably have to be removed and reattached, if not buying more boards and replacing.
> ...


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## Drizzt (Apr 6, 2011)

Would you see products that harden eventually crack from house stresses, or does this not generally appear in something like baseboard patching? I would imagine that it would be best to use the hardening/sandable products on the faces to get things to blend, and a caulk to fill in the wall bow gaps that you see at the top of the baseboards.
I'm looking forward to working on this and seeing what I can do. Do you recommend any particular products that you like to work with for something like this?


Thanks guys.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Yes, most anything is going to show some cracking if the house settles and if a particular area happens to be in the zone that moves. Using _vinylized_ spackling compound helps some. And yes to caulking along the wall edges... that's what it's for. But don't use a wet cloth to smooth the caulking. That actually seems to increase the likelihood of cracking... just wet your finger a little and rub it smooth.


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## Drizzt (Apr 6, 2011)

As an update, I've removed, sanded, filled, filed, cut down, painted.. etc... the problem baseboards, and.... They look better. Not as good as I was hoping after all the work it took, but definatly better. They still require a 2nd coat of paint, and the walls have to be repainted, especially since I decresed the height of the baseboards over the hardwood transitions so they matched up better. But end result, here are a few pictures:



















Thanks again for any input you provided when I asked.


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## Ironlight (Apr 13, 2011)

I think that looks great and you should be really happy with the result after you have touched up the wall paint. Nice job.


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## 95025 (Nov 14, 2010)

Drizzt said:


> As an update, I've removed, sanded, filled, filed, cut down, painted.. etc... the problem baseboards, and.... They look better. Not as good as I was hoping after all the work it took, but definatly better. They still require a 2nd coat of paint, and the walls have to be repainted, especially since I decresed the height of the baseboards over the hardwood transitions so they matched up better. But end result, here are a few pictures:
> 
> 
> Thanks again for any input you provided when I asked.


Wow - that is an AMAZING improvement over what you started with! Good job! :thumbsup:


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

DrHicks said:


> Wow - that is an AMAZING improvement over what you started with! Good job! :thumbsup:


He said it all!


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