Jennifer, I'll give you two tips. Number 1, run a bead of caulk where ever two wood panels come together, before painting. If you don't the paint will have a hard time filling in the gap. I'd also caulk at the top of the baseboard and anywhere else there is a gap.
Number 2, Nail the quarter round to the baseboard prior to painting them. Quarter round comes in various sizes, 1 quarter inch, half inch, three quarter inch, etcetera, so buy the size you need to cover the gap, where the carpet was. Also, when putting the quarter round in, place the end of shims under it about every foot or so. Then after nailing them in, take them out and you will end up with a small gap, which will allow you to place paper under the quarter round to mask it off for painting, so you won't get paint on the floor. Hope this helps. Tom From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jennifer Jackson Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 6:56 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [BlindHandyMan] base boards and painting Good Morning Handy People, I am about to tackle a new project in my home. Actually, I am drafting my now eleven year old to be my worker bee and "we" are going to do several projects around the house. *smile* Our first project is to paint that stupid paneling in my living room. It has some gouges in it and some wall paper goo still stuck to it that appears to be permanent. I can not get it off with physical force or nasty chemicals, so I give up. I plan to use some wood putty to fill in the gouge marks, prime, and then paint. I will really appreciate any tips for getting this done as far as the actual primer and paint myself as I want to contribute to the we in this project. I also need your thoughts on how to handle the base boards. Last year my husband took out the carpet and painted the concrete in that room. The floors look really good and we get lots of compliments. He did not, however, ever get around to lowering the baseboards or filling in the space where the carpet used to be with quarter round. I think using the quarter round is the best idea because it means that if we want to put carpet in later we can just remove the quarter round and not all the baseboards. So now I am trying to decide what to do about the baseboards when I paint. Should I paint them too, and then just paint some quarter round and put it in? should I even paint the baseboards at all, or leave them wood colored with the walls painted? I am painting the walls an off white in a standard color and the floors are a natural gold color. I know it will be easiest to just paint it, but I also want to consider the resale value of my home. Also, we had a flood last week, so I am going to have to get a lot of my downstairs baseboards restained anyway. This project is taking place tomorrow by the way. Both of my younger sons will be gone and the oldest and I will have the place to ourselves to get this done. any basic painting tips are appreciated too. Jennifer [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
