On Sunday, July 20, 2014 12:11:01 PM UTC-5, Swingman wrote:

On that note, for grins and those who don't know already, an old trim

carpenter trick:



If you need a nail in baseboard/molding in an area of drywall without a

sill plate or stud, simply shoot two 2" finish nails through the

baseboard and drywall about 2" to 3" apart, and angled toward each other

at about 45 degrees+ ... put a little liquid nail/adhesive on the back

side, if you have to.

An excellent tip. When the glue is used, the trim will go nowhere.

I started out working for a commercial contractor (not residential) and we had adhesives everywhere. Back in the 70s, few knew (including me) that there was such a thing as an engineered adhesive. So when I learned to trim out buildings, we had a lot of different kinds of trims (remember, no nail guns back then!) that we had to get in place to stay. Even with pilot holes for he nails, small pieces of oak trims and other hardwoods would split when you put a 6d in it. Also, there was that "tiny" piece that was a return to a wall on a chair rail, and end cap to a piece of crown, or a finishing piece inside a tight fitting corner.

I started using PL400 then, as that is what they bought for us to use. For a small piece of trim I thought would split, I came up with my own method of attachment. I would get those small pieces and drill a hole a bit bigger than the nail, large enough for the nail to just slide easily in and out of the hole. Then I would take the nail and put a small "hickey" (bend)in it about 1/4" below the head. A spot of PL400, them drive the nail up, and the hickey would hold the piece of trim in place until it dried.

With today's excellent adhesives, I glue a fair amount of trim. I like to put a spot of adhesive on small trim and just pin it with my pinner as well.. If I can get the angle away from the line of site, then I don't even fill those tiny holes left by the 23 gauge pin.

As a sidebar, I rarely look for studs when I am trimming a house's baseboard. I make sure I am not backing up to a kitchen or bath, and use a 2 1/2" 15ga nail in the base, nailed at about 45 degrees from about 2 1/2" up from the floor to hit the sill. If there is a gap of no more than 1/8", I leave it and caulk it with the caulk acting as adhesive. The bottom is captured by flooring of some kind or another, so I don't worry about that.

Gotta find those studs on 6" base, though. Next kitchen or trim that comes up will probably be buying that Franklin. Just finding the studs reliably in seconds instead of minutes make that a great tool to have.

Robert