ᐅ Is it feasible for a layperson to install baseboards themselves?
Created on: 26 Aug 2020 21:36
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kati1337
Hello,
we have hired a painter for the entire house, including wallpapering and painting. I have now asked what he would charge for the baseboards but haven’t received a price yet.
Is it something a layperson could realistically do themselves? A miter box and a Japanese saw can be bought for about €70 (around $75). On Amazon, there are complete kits with baseboards and corner blocks available for just under €200 (about $215), although I haven’t calculated if the length would be enough. However, a friend mentioned that installing baseboards is much more difficult than it seems at first glance. Especially cutting for the corners would be a really tough job.
Do you have any experience with this? I’m not extremely perfectionistic, but it should look neat. Would you recommend letting a professional handle it, or is it something one can try doing oneself?
we have hired a painter for the entire house, including wallpapering and painting. I have now asked what he would charge for the baseboards but haven’t received a price yet.
Is it something a layperson could realistically do themselves? A miter box and a Japanese saw can be bought for about €70 (around $75). On Amazon, there are complete kits with baseboards and corner blocks available for just under €200 (about $215), although I haven’t calculated if the length would be enough. However, a friend mentioned that installing baseboards is much more difficult than it seems at first glance. Especially cutting for the corners would be a really tough job.
Do you have any experience with this? I’m not extremely perfectionistic, but it should look neat. Would you recommend letting a professional handle it, or is it something one can try doing oneself?
I also glued the baseboards myself in our house (~144m² (1550 ft²)) using construction adhesive. However, I waited almost 1.5 years before doing so, as the walls settle less after that time.
I used a large chop and miter saw, which worked perfectly. It was especially helpful for our 45° corners in the house.
I had ordered good-quality MDF baseboards with a Hamburg profile online. The quality was excellent. What’s still left to do is fill all the gaps with acrylic sealant.
A small tip: For joints on a straight wall (some walls are longer than the baseboard length), don’t butt the ends together squarely, but cut them at a 45° angle as well. This makes the joints less noticeable.
I used a large chop and miter saw, which worked perfectly. It was especially helpful for our 45° corners in the house.
I had ordered good-quality MDF baseboards with a Hamburg profile online. The quality was excellent. What’s still left to do is fill all the gaps with acrylic sealant.
A small tip: For joints on a straight wall (some walls are longer than the baseboard length), don’t butt the ends together squarely, but cut them at a 45° angle as well. This makes the joints less noticeable.
I'm not sure if it's worth buying online. We paid 1.40 per meter gross. I needed just over 65 m (about 213 feet). Two meters (about 6.5 feet) are left over and stored in the attic. At first, I used a no-name assembly adhesive from Amazon, which didn’t hold. After one year, the pieces simply fell off. However, it was easy to remove since it didn’t bond with the surface. The adhesive I’m using now is a cartridge adhesive from Renovo, the house brand at Hagebau, which holds well and is only slightly more expensive.
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pagoni202027 Aug 2020 12:40seth0487 schrieb:
A quick tip: When joining moldings on a straight wall (some walls are longer than the baseboard), don’t butt them together at a 90° angle, but cut them at a 45° angle instead. This makes the joint less noticeable. Exactly. Unfortunately, our assigned specialist was not aware of this (we knew as laypeople), and everything was cut straight or even with gaps of 2-3mm.
So next time I’ll do it myself, also because using a proper miter saw can be fun.
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hampshire27 Aug 2020 16:24You just need a bit of patience, careful measuring, some common sense to avoid cutting the angles in the wrong direction, and good tools. The level of difficulty is rather low. We completed this using a meter stick, a miter saw, and a nail gun, and we’re not expert craftsmen.