How To Repair A Baseboard

Baseboards can become chipped and dinged over fourth dimension. And they can take a big beating during renovations! The skilful news is that information technology is relatively easy to repair chipped baseboard pigment so that information technology looks fresh and make clean once again. Just follow this step-by-step tutorial.

Have you e'er looked around at the baseboards in your house and cringed? Baseboards get muddied, chipped and dinged over time. It's totally normal. But, worn baseboards tin can make your otherwise beautiful room look kind of worn out. No one wants that! And baseboards can really take a beating during domicile renovations.

Our baseboards looked TERRIBLE afterwards all the demo for our first-floor and kitchen renovation (which is virtually washed every bit I write this postal service). So if yous've ever wondered how to repair baseboards to make them look fresh and pretty over again, you are in the right identify. You lot but need to right materials and technique. And that's exactly what I'k going to teach you lot in this post.

A big thanks to DAP Products for sponsoring this mail. This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

How to Repair Baseboards: A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Materials needed:

DAP Alex Plus Spackling or DAP Crevice Shot Spackling Paste
Putty pocketknife
Sandpaper
DAP Alex Plus Caulk (if needed)
Trim paint (nosotros ever use Behr Ultra-White in a Semi-gloss terminate)
Paintbrush

baseboard repair supplies

Steps:

First a flake of background. Nosotros had a tile flooring removed in our lobby. Typically, yous remove all baseboards before demolishing an old flooring. Nosotros removed all of the old baseboards EXCEPT for these baseboards nether the large windows in our lobby. The reason we didn't remove them is that we were concerned that we would also impairment the window trim in the process, and we didn't want to open that tin of worms. So though we had some patching and repair work to do to all of the old baseboards when nosotros reinstalled them, I chose to demonstrate this tutorial on the areas that were most badly damaged to show you that you actually tin can practice this!It's even easier when y'all are dealing with less harm.

Stride i: Remove loose paint.

Use your putty knife to gently scrape away any loose paint. Nosotros likewise had sometime caulk lines to scrape away since we had removed quarter round trim besides. I tin't stress enough that you desire togentlyremove loose paint. You don't want to create more than work for yourself past existence ambitious with this step. If you lot have paint that is nevertheless adhered to the baseboard, leave it alone. Just remove what your putty knife slides nether easily.

Here's a photo of what I removed from this strip of the baseboard.

damaged baseboards before repair

Stride 2: Patch the damaged areas.

Nosotros usedDAP Alex Plus Spacklingto exercise all the repair piece of work on our baseboards. This stuff is my FAVORITE. It'due south like caulk and spackle had a baby!The consistency is much smoother and easier to utilise than other spackles I have tried. If you tin can't observe DAP Alex Plus Spackling, my second choice is DAP Fissure Shot Spackling Paste. I only had a tube of it (because we had used up our big tub of information technology for other projects). But since I had and then much to patch, I didn't want to have to keep squeezing the bottle. And so, I squeezed out a bunch at a time on my larger putty knife so I could easily scoop up what I needed equally I worked.

Here are some general spackling tips for you lot:

Use your spackle to your putty knife. So, position the blade of your putty knife at a 45-degree angle to the wall and spread theDAP Alex Plus Spackling over the imperfection in a smooth, feathering move until the imperfection is completely filled in.

applying DAP Alex Plus Spackling to a damaged baseboard

Gently scrape away backlog spackle from the wall while belongings your putty pocketknife at a ninety-caste angle to the wall. Be careful not to remove the spackle from the imperfection equally you practise this! Employ a damp textile to remove any excess spackle from the wall that your putty knife did not remove beforethe spackle dries.
Don't overdo it on your first glaze, specially if you have significant harm. Information technology's ameliorate to apply several sparse coats if needed. This is what my start glaze looked similar.

Dap Alex Plus Spackling on damaged baseboard

Once your spackle dries, lightly sand. Repeat boosted coats every bit needed. I applied two coats to this unabridged damaged expanse and a tertiary coat to ane particular problem spot.
Later your repair work is complete and the spackle has dried, lightly sand information technology down with fine-grit sandpaper until it is even with the wall. Wipe away whatever dust with a damp cloth.

To repair baseboards that have smaller harm, like nail holes, I simply squeeze a scrap of DAP Alex Plus Spackling directly over the holes and then remove the excess with my putty pocketknife.

DAP Alex Plus Spackling to fill nail holes

Footstep three: Caulk if needed.

If you demand to freshen up the caulk where your baseboard meets your wall or other trim, now is the fourth dimension to do it. Since we did remove almost of our baseboards and then reinstalled them, we had a lot of caulking to do. The practiced news is that information technology'south much easier than spackling! Nosotros utilise DAP Alex Plus caulk for all of our trim caulking.

To caulk, must concord your caulk gun at a 45-degree bending and move at an even pace along the length of your baseboard. Then dip your finger in a bit of water and run it along your bead of caulk to smooth out any bumps. Easy peasy!

DAP Alex Plus caulking along baseboard

You tin run into what a difference caulking makes where the baseboard trim matches up with the wall in the photo below. It fills in the gap and finishes it off beautifully.

caulk vs. no caulk on baseboard trim

Step 4: Paint.

I trust you all know how to paint so I didn't have photos of this step :) If yous are an experienced painter like me, you won't fifty-fifty need to record off before painting. I just used an angled brush and knocked it out pretty rapidly. Just if y'all aren't every bit confident with your painting, I'd recommend using painter's record to protect your flooring and wall earlier you paint your baseboards.

That's it! Have a look at this before and after. Is it perfect? No. But information technology's a zillion, trillion times meliorate. And information technology wasn't hard! (PS- a post all virtually how to install quarter circular (and why we recommend it & needed it will be coming before long).

Before you head out and get started, be sure to cheque out my Complimentary design guides that will assistance you assist you lot design spaces you absolutely love! Unlock my design vault and get access to all of them in 1 convenient digital library.

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