How To Install Quarter Round With A Nail Gun

Installing quarter round molding In this postal service I'll show you how to install quarter circular molding (or shoe molding, or baseboards) with just a few simple tools.

Whether you've simply installed completely new floors or are simply updating your trim, function of the project is installing new baseboards or molding.

Quarter round is a perfect, simple option for bridging the gap between your floors and the walls for a clean and finished look. You can also become a fancier route with all kinds of elaborate molding, just for the purpose of this tutorial I'1000 just using skillful onetime fashioned quarter round.

Now, most tutorials y'all'll discover online will tell yous to nail the molding in place with a pneumatic nailer. Merely, if you're a normal person like me and not a construction worker, you don't just have a pneumatic nailer laying around. Not but are they pricey to buy, simply they're a pain to rent because there are so many different parts yous demand to get (nailer, air compressor, special nails, etc.).

The good news is, you can complete your baseboard installation with just a hammer and nails and one more magical tool: a smash set.

Tools And Materials To Install Quarter Round Molding

Hack saw (many other types of saws will work likewise, merely a hack saw is quick and easy)
Hammer
Finishing nails
Nail set
Latex sealant/caulk

How To Install Quarter Round Molding Without A Nail Gun

A nail set is a simple tool that looks only similar a pencil, but made out of metal. Instead of hammering your finishing nails all the way into the molding, which would result in an ugly, hammer-shaped paring, y'all're going to hammer them nearly all the way in, and then finish the job with the nail set.

Step i: Cutting molding

You tin apply whatever kind of saw you're comfy with to cutting quarter round molding; since information technology's pretty easy to cut past hand, I used a unproblematic hack saw.

Step two: Lay molding confronting wall, affluent with the floor

It'south okay if there are pocket-sized gaps between the molding and the wall; you're going to fill those in afterward with sealant. It's meliorate to pay attention to laying the molding nice and flat against the floor.

Step three: Hammer your finishing nail almost all the fashion into the wall

Always blast baseboards into the wall—never the floor. It's easiest to hammer if you angle your nail slightly downward rather than trying to smash direct in.

Hammer with conviction! You're less likely to miss and dent your baseboard if you take a few good, solid whacks rather than if you're taking a dozen tiny hits to move the blast in. This comes with exercise, and I notwithstanding haven't mastered it.

Stop hammering when there'due south about 1/eight of an inch of the nail notwithstanding sticking out of the wall.

how to install quarter round molding Installing quarter round molding

Step iv: Utilise the nail set to drive the nail the rest of the way in

Line up the tip of the nail set with the top of your nail. Nail sets come in dissimilar sizes; you want ane that'southward just a tiny chip smaller than your nailhead.

Now, use the hammer on the blast gear up to drive the nail the rest of the way into the wall. This part takes some exercise and you lot'll probably miss a few times at first! You might desire to do on a spare piece of plywood until you lot become the hang of it.

You're done once you lot've driven the nail just beneath the surface of your baseboard. Proceed driving your nails near ii feet apart along the length of the baseboard.

Install quarter round molding

Stride 5: Finish with sealant

Utilise a tube of bones indoor/outdoor sealant or caulk to close the gap between the baseboard and the wall. Don't worry if information technology'south coming out of the tube a little sloppy–the best tool for getting a smooth, perfect seal is your finger. Once y'all've applied the sealant, run your (clean) finger over the acme to smooth information technology out. Wipe off any backlog with a paper towel.

Step 6: Encompass nail heads

If you've done a skillful job with your nail set, your nail heads are barely noticeable. Still, y'all want to make them even more than invisible by putting a dab of sealant over the top of them. If information technology's a bit messy, that'southward okay; y'all can sand it down once the sealant dries.

Note—this whole procedure is easiest if you employ white baseboards and white sealant, because everything just blends perfectly. Otherwise, if they're different colors (similar natural wood baseboards) yous'll have to paint information technology all to friction match at the end.

Voila! Cute, make clean looking baseboards.

Quarter round molding

It's really not difficult at all in one case you become going. I started on the wall behind our bed only in instance I had whatever major screw-ups, which was a great mode to get the hang of information technology before moving on to more visible walls.

New molding takes an unfinished room and makes information technology feel clean and polished! To see what led upwardly to this bespeak, bank check out my full post on installing laminate floors.