On Thu, 10 May 2018 16:55:51 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 4:01:10 PM UTC-5, OFWW wrote:
I have a new wall dividing a room made with steel studs, like you
would see on most commercial jobs.

Problem is with the floor molding attachment. I know nails should be
fairly worthless there, or so I would think, so it would seem that
some sort of gluing would be necessary but how would I be able to
ensure a tight fit to the wall short of using screws with the
attendant filling problem? Or am I just looking at this all wrong?

Practical advice is needed. Thank you in advance.

I am finishing up a dental clinic with this same situation. Usually, we put a rubber or vinyl "sanitary base" at this detail, but in the owner's office, he wanted something that looked a little less commercial and sterile.

As I have done in the past, I glue the moldings on. I buy the appropriate trim in mdf, not pine, as it conforms more easily to the shape of the wall. I put a small "Hershey's kiss" of liquid nails on the top and bottom of the trim every 12" or so. I mark the face of the trim with a pencil mark so I don't have to remember where my glue is when nailing.

I press the molding in place, the using a long brad (for me since I am going into 5/8" sheet rock) I shoot a brad at an obtuse angle, about 45 degrees. I shoot one at the top, then one farther down at the opposite angle, forming an "X". The lower brad is shot to be just over the top of the track, or channel that holds the studs. For small pieces, one brad will usually do the trick. The brads are there to hold the molding in place until the adhesive cures, and once the adhesive is cured, the molding will not come off without tearing up the sheet rock.

Been doing it this way for years, never had a fail. And if you are painting this wall and trim detail, you will no doubt caulk the top of the trim, adding more adhesive to the detail.

As a sidebar, I put about 250' of chair rail up at the same place, and instead of liquid nails I used a OK quality of painter's acrylic caulk. The process is the same, but in this case if I got a bit of squeeze out, I could wipe it off easily with a damp rag.

Since I do a lot of remodeling and repairs, I have come to respect caulk as an adhesive after taking a lot of details apart only to find the whole mess was held together by nothing more than caulk. A surprise for me, but when thinking about it, some of those joints were decades old when I got to them, and they hadn't failed, either.

So if it were me, thinking squeeze out, I would probably use caulk on the base, too. If you are unsure, make it bulletproof and use liquid nails.

Robert

Thanks Robert, The nails only into the drywall, not the sheet metal
makes sense especially with Caulk. I have some liquid nails but the
consistency is a bit thinker. I am using that for the "wood" floor
molding in the doorway to the hall, on top of concrete slab.

Much appreciated.