How I Replaced My Baseboard With and Without Expensive Tools

by Berta Lily

6 Materials

$250

4 Weeks

Advanced

So all the baseboards in my house were HORRIBLE!! First off, it wasn't even baseboard, it was casing (the molding you use around windows and doors typically, NOT for the floor). It was very much falling apart and stained from when we pulled up the rugs upstairs and refinished the wood.

how i replaced my baseboard with and without expensive tools

Similar to my ugly space below the stairs, the contractor wanted a pretty penny for all the trim work and it just didn't seem that hard to me. The thing was, I wanted to start off doing the work with less expensive tools since I wasn't sure how smoothly this would go.

Initially, I used a miter box and saw ($10), hammer, drill, 1 inch nails, nail punch ($5), hammer, crow bar tool and a stud finder. All of this I already owned except for the miter saw box and the nail punch as well as the nails themselves. I did ultimately invest in a miter saw and electric nail gun which I will get into shortly but again wanted to make sure I can do the work for $15 before spending hundreds of dollars.

First step was removing all this nasty boarding using a hammer and crow bar tool (I don't really know what this is called but they have similar looking items that are specific to removing molding).

I also got new baseboard that was wider than the original in order to prevent needing to clean up the walls.

Then I used the miter box and saw to cut the baseboard to size. This required some strength and being a 140 pound women was NOT easy. I had to get pretty creative and use one foot and one arm to hold the boards in place while sawing with my right hand. But maybe a larger person would find it less difficult.

I then used the stud finder and pre-drilled holes into the beams to secure the molding and used the nail pin to punch the nails in place.

Ok, so it worked! But I decided to cut down on time I would invest in a miter saw and nail gun after all. It can be done! but for a whole floor, it might be worth getting the tools to make things faster and easier.

I went with a small Ryobi miter saw and an electric nail gun. If you keep an eye out for sales, you can get both tools for about $300. Are these the BEST tools for the job? probably not but for an amateur just working on my own house they worked great.

Like I said, the $15 tools will work too but will take much longer.

Using caulk, I went over all the seams and all that's left to do is add a layer of paint (the molding is primed white but you still want to paint with high gloss eventually).