Trimming an existing interior door

How to trim an existing door.

When renovating a house one of the easiest ways to give the house a face lift is to change the trim. In today’s world there are endless options of style, size and material to pick from. Here is how to re-trim an existing door properly;

• First things first remove the old trim. Try to remove the trim so that you do not damage or dent the door jamb, use a flat bar for this and you should have little to no problems.

• Clean the existing jamb. Remove any nails, staples, caulking, and excess paint or wood splinters from the end of the jambs. This will make it simpler to install the door trim.

• Check to see that the new trim you are adding to the door will not be impeded by the drywall. Sometimes the existing drywall can have humps and bumps in it that can push your trim out and make it quite difficult to install flat and straight. Cut any drywall back that is in the way but make sure that you don’t cut beyond where the trim will cover or you will be forced to do a drywall repair afterward.

• Check that the door stills shuts properly now that the trim has been removed. Sometimes people do not realize that they are suppose to hang the door with shims before they trim the door, so instead they install the door so that the trim holds the jamb in place.

• If the door needs to be adjusted, take the time and properly shim and nail the door so that it opens and shuts properly. You need to make sure that the door looks square and with a level check that the existing jambs are installed level. This will make it easier for you to install your trim.

To trim the door properly you will need the following tools;

• Sliding compound saw or “chop saw”.
• 16 or 18 gauge trim gun or both with an air compressor.
• Glue.
• Wood filler.
• Tape measure and a pencil.
• Hammer and a nail set.

You can get away with not using a lot of power tools but if you have more than one door to trim then I recommend that you either buy or rent the equipment, it makes a more professional job.

You always start with the piece of trim on the top of the door frame. This piece of trim will be probably be the shortest piece of trim on the door and it will be angle cut on both ends.

Measure the top piece of trim by measuring from the corner of your door frame to the corner of your door frame. Then add 1/8 of inch for each side so that you will have a reveal at the edge of the door frame. So if the measurement of the jamb widths is 36 inches then your measurement for the piece of trim will be 36 ¼”.
As long as the door you are trimming is close to square and level you should be able to make the two angle cuts on the top piece of trim at 45 degrees.

Cut one side of your trim with the 45 degree angle and then measure from the short point your 36 ¼” and make a mark. Then cut the opposite 45 degree angle starting at your mark cutting away from it. As long as you measured and cut properly this should fit on the top.

Line the piece of trim up so that you have an 1/8” reveal on each end to match your measurement and then line the piece of trim up so that there is an 1/8” reveal on the top of the jamb. Use the trim gun to nail the piece of trim in place, be very careful when nailing the trim to the jamb that you do not split the jamb.

Measure the side trim from the inside point of where your top piece of trim starts to the ground. Deduct 1/8” so that the trim will not rub on the floor.  When you cut the side trim cut the bottom end square first and then measure up the trim and mark it where you want to angle cut it. Cut your 45 degree angle. If the door is level and square the two pieces of trim should come together perfectly.

But since you are trimming an existing door you will probably have to adjust your cut so that the joints fit tighter together. When you have successfully obtained a tight fit on the joint between the two pieces of trim, nail it with the trim gun. Leave a 1/8” reveal on the jamb just like you did on the top piece of trim. Put a nail at the top corner of the trim so that the nail is driven sideways through both pieces of trim holding them together.

If you are worried about the trim pulling apart because of expansion and contraction adding wood glue to the joint between the two pieces of trim will help.

Do the other side of the jamb the same way that you have just completed the first.
Trim the whole other side of the door in the same manner that you trimmed this side and you should end up with a beautifully trimmed door.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Coping baseboard in an inside corner

Trimming an inside corner the right way.

If you are doing a little home renovation or you have a professional tradesmen working at your home and you are wondering how they were able to get the inside corner joint of the baseboard to look so tight, keep reading and I’ll tell you how they did it.

First things first you need the right tools;

• You need a “chop saw”, if your doing baseboards of any good size then you need a sliding compound saw. This is basically a powered mitre saw that will cut any angle that you need.
• You will need a good sharp pencil.
• Air powered trim gun.
• A jigsaw.
• A coping saw. This is the important tool that is not expensive to buy but is essential to making proper inside corner joints.

When you are trimming an inside 90 degree corner most people will just cut two pieces of baseboard on a 45 degree angle and butt them up in the corner. The problem with this is that no corner is perfectly square. Most houses in North America have drywall on their walls, when you drywall an inside corner you tape it and then mud over it. When the drywaller is done the corner is no longer square. Because of this when you attempt to simple butt the two 45 degree joints together then you end up with a gap at the front where the two pieces of trim are suppose to meet. Because of this it is quicker, easier and looks world’s better when you cope the baseboard joint in the corner.

Here are the following steps to coping a baseboard inside corner;

1. Measure and cut one piece of baseboard so that it runs straight into the corner. You do not put any angle on the cut; a straight 90 degree cut is what you want. Nail it in place.

2. Measure the next length of baseboard that will be running into the corner from the other direction. If the baseboard you are cutting doesn’t have to end any where specific then you simply cut a 45 degree angle on that far end so that your next piece of baseboard can overlap it making it look professional. If you need an exact length of baseboard because it meets another piece of baseboard or it meets an outside corner or door trim then you are going to have to add a couple of extra inches to your measurement. This will insure that your piece of baseboard does not end up to short once you cope the corner.

3. Cut your piece of baseboard to the desired length, making your cut at the opposite end where you will be doing your corner coping.

4. Then cut a 45 degree angle on the corner that needs to be cooped. Your 45 degree angle should be cut so that the back of the baseboard is longer than the face of the baseboard. This is the same procedure if you were going to try and do two 45 degree corner butt joint.

5. Now take your coping saw and cut along the face of the baseboard. You will be cutting at the exact edge of the 45 degree cut. Because you have cut the baseboard on a 45 degree angle your cut will not be straight at the top of the baseboard where the detail is. So you keep cutting until you have removed the 45 degree angle cut. At the bottom of the baseboard where there is no detail you can use the jigsaw, this will make it faster and should allow you to make a straighter cleaner cut then doing it by hand.

6. Now that you have coped the baseboard your probably looking at it thinking this is looks weird! Take the baseboard and slide the cooped end of the baseboard into the corner. If you cooped the corner properly that cooped end should fit over all the detail of the other piece of baseboard that you already installed. This will give you a beautiful corner and minimize shrinking, allowing the baseboard to stay nice and tight.

7. Nail it in place when you have it fitting like you want too. If the baseboard had to fit in an exact location then this is the time when you mark the other end with a pencil where it meets the other corner or trim. Cut to length and nail in place.

It’s that easy. The first time you do this it will take you sometime, but once you get the hang of it then it will not take a lot of time at all.

If you hire a handyman and he doesn’t trim your inside corners like this then you should be a little worried. This is step one in becoming a carpenter when learning to trim. My apprentices will spend weeks in a custom home and all they are allowed to do is cope baseboard that the master carpenter has marked for them.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.