How To Fix Baseboard With BIG GAPS Or Doesn't Meet Up! Tips And Tricks Tutorial DIY  For Beginners!

On this episode, I'm going to be showing you how to fix those big gaps between two baseboards or if they just don't meet up, or if you have a damaged area and you just want to replace a certain portion of that baseboard that's damaged. Stay tuned for the whole video because I'll show you the reason for my madness on this technique. Welcome to Fix This House. If you're new to the channel, please consider pressing that subscribe and notification bell so you can always be in tune on DIYs, how-to videos, and product reviews that I do within this channel. So you're probably wondering why did I even make this video, Jay, why couldn't you just take out that short baseboard on the left side, cut out for a longer piece that actually touches and meets up to the right side of that baseboard so you don't have to go through all this trouble. Well, the reason being for this, friends, is I like to make videos that are different scenarios. Not everybody has the same situations, so I like to make up these various scenarios where you can actually find a way to fix these types of problems. For example, on this video, we're dealing with a gap. Who knows how we got this gap? Maybe we were just making all our measurements, but for some reason it didn't quite meet up. So you don't want to take out the whole baseboard run because you already stapled it or actually put caulking already on it. Or if you just have a damaged area and you just want to replace this certain portion of that baseboard, then you have this option, which is I'm creating right now. Then you might automatically think to yourself, hey, why don't I just fill this gap with wood filler? The reason why that doesn't work, friends, is because I tried it for myself already. If you fill this up, this one I already filled with one layer and overnight I left it over and after it dried up, it actually ended up cracking again. Sure, we can put a second layer of wood filler on this, but it will eventually crack over time and we don't want that to happen because baseboards are made out of MDF. It's attached to a stud, which is made out of wood. It's on a floating floor. It's on a wooden sub floor. Those things expand and contract over time and it will eventually crack. So I started out with this method where you can make a template just like what you see here. So right now I'm using my miter saw and I'm cutting a small template with two sides, two 45 degree sides, one on each end and you can set it up. We don't have to go through the 46 degrees just like what I did in the past videos. This one, you just automatically just go straight 45 and we want to relieve and cut out for a piece. Now it doesn't matter how big of a piece, you can use whatever piece that you need, whatever size. In this case, this is the right size for me because this is how much I want to replace on that baseboard, 45 degrees on each side and I'm going to be stapling this with my 18 gauge Brad nailer, which is by Worx by the way. So I'm placing this template piece and I'm joining it and actually stapling it to the old baseboard size. I'm now using my oscillating tool by Worx and I am actually using that angle that I just cut out for my template and I'm using that to run my oscillating tool as a guide because you know, if you don't have this guide that you just made or if you happen to make, it will not go on a 45 degree angle and it's very, very challenging, especially cutting a 45 degree angle that's already stapled or already attached to your wall. So this is the thing that I thought of, hey, why can't I just make a template that you can actually have a guide with your oscillating tool, which will make it easier for you. And trust me, friends, I actually recommend this method. If you have baseboards that are set in place already, you don't want to take them out and you want to do it right on the spot. Making a template like this and stapling up there is actually a very, very good way to do a 45 degree. If you happen to have a different technique, let me know in the comment section below. I really want to know a method that you used in this case and scenario, but this is the way I found it to be the easiest way. And after you actually cut that 45 degree, you can just pry it off. I don't have my ten and one tool right at the moment, but I just used my flathead screwdriver and just pried off that, you know, that piece that I want to replace. So you just want to gently take it off. You want to hold on to the existing baseboards that already is in place and slowly pry it off. And actually I'm using this one piece to make us leverage so that I can use my flathead screwdriver slash pry bar to take this off so I don't damage the wall. When you get it off, you're not done yet. You will still have to do with the brad nails that are attached to the wall. So in this case, I am just using, make sure to actually vacuum all that debris off before you actually place new pieces on this. So I'm going to be using my lineman's pliers to take these brad nails off. Again, I'm using my putty knife or some kind of metal piece so that when you start yanking these off, you have leverage again and you can protect that wall while you're pulling this out. So I'm taking my tape measure and I'm using the two inch mark. You can use the one inch or the two inch, whatever you want to use, but that's actually the most correct way that I can do it, the most accurate. Because if I use the edge of that tape measure, it might not give me the exact measurement. I'm reading six and an eighth of an inch. I'm using a scrap piece and you can actually, you can, instead of measuring, you can just place this onto the existing baseboards and you can use that as measurement as well. You don't have to use the tape measure and make sure that you practice that technique that I showed you before in my past baseboard videos to draw out the angle so you don't confuse yourself. Now I'm placing my miter saw on the 45 degree angle and I'm cutting that also on each side of this scrap piece. Again, 45 degrees, make that cut and now we're going to test it out on this. So I'm actually going to show you that I made errors while doing this and this is my first error. One of the pieces actually was too short. So you might have to cut and test and fit as you go. I'm just showing you my experience and how this worked. I actually had to make a second piece so that I can make a little bit bigger piece and make adjustment with my saw so that when I start placing this on that fit, it actually has that nice fit. And it's okay if you have a little tiny gap, we'll fix that later. But on this second piece, it actually fit really, really well. There was just a minor adjustments that I had to do. I had to relieve a little bit of that right side miter. Use my miter saw, cut off that small itty bitty piece so that I can make that relief and make it flush just like that. After you relieve that, that's actually the hardest part. You're done. That's it. Now what you can do is now is take this piece out and we can glue it onto the baseboard. This is actually why we want to do this. We want those piece to be glued and attached to the baseboards to have a very, very nice firm foundation and fit. I'm using my 2P10 glue. I'll leave it in the link down below. Again, you don't have to glue every single part. Just glue the perimeter, spray the activator. I'm actually putting glue on one side, on the other side as well. One activator on one side. I haven't put activator on the other side because I don't want to adjust that yet or we will have a hard time gluing this. I'm actually lifting or pulling back on the baseboard on the left side to make this fit. And then I'm just going to spray the right side baseboard, spray with that activator and glue it up just like what you see there so that it doesn't activate right away and you can have fine adjustments before it actually sticks. So there you have it. Now we can say that this is a one piece because when I press on this, those two baseboards on each side move. We're not done yet. We're going to secure it with our Brad nailer. So make sure that if you're doing this, you secure it on the stud as well. I'm using this wood filler. This is my go-to and I like using this razor blade as my mini trowel to scrape this on. Again, take your time doing this. Make sure you finesse. Again, make sure you cover those cracks nice and well with this. This is one of my techniques I like to use instead of using a huge trowel. This is actually a nice applicator. Just be very careful. Don't cut yourself with that razor blade again, give it about a few hours to dry. Now it's ready for sanding. I'm using 180 grit sandpaper with the sanding block. I'll leave all the stuff I use in here within the description down below. And I'm also, sometimes I don't use the block. I like to use it by hand. I like to feel it with my hands. I know where the highs and lows are. And on those little tiny areas down below, just use a box knife or razor blade to relieve all that excess. Wipe down the area, caulk it. I like to use this dab stretch. This is my go-to for baseboards install. Wipe it down, use your wet rag, and then just wipe off the excess. Paint it up with your paintbrush. Make sure you prime it because you're actually using a different type of wood filler, different color. Prime it. And then I like to run it with a roller brush because I don't like using that paintbrush. Now here you go. Here's the new fixed area. It looks brand new. It looks great. And it's a great fix, friends. This is a good option if you don't want to take out the whole baseboard run and you just want to fix a short portion. So if you find value to this, please hit that big thumbs up, subscribe, notification bell, and let me know in the comment section below your techniques and what you think about this one. Thank you. I'll see you on the next one.