Please Evaluate Basement Trimwork

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Would you accept this trim in your home knowing that caulking/painting still needed to be done? Ignore the nail holes. I know they need to be filled.

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[Keith Beck]

I'm guessing that since you're asking, this is something you paid for?

Admittedly, caulk will hide a lot, but I personally think it's a subpar job, especially if you paid somebody to do it. I don't do trim for a living, but I know I could do a much better job than that.

Some of those gaps are just ridiculously large. And what's with the baseboard? Is that a 45 degree cut joining the two pieces? Kinda hard to tell from the picture. If it were me, I'd be raising a fit.

Just my .02...

Keith

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I'm guessing that since you're asking, this is something you paid for?

Not yet I didn't.

[Rob Wright]

Rob,

That looks like the job the trim carpenter did in my house last year. Every night I would stop out to my house and leave "unacceptable" post it notes on everything that I felt was poor quality. He probably ripped out half the door and windows trim in the entire house before the general finally kicked him off.

I know that the job or skill of a good trim carpenter is knowing how to hide the flaws, but just depending on the painter to fix those is unacceptable. The base molding should have been coped in the corner. The butt joints on the base should have been beveled and glued to each other.The miters on the doors should have a slight back bevel on them to allow the joint to fit tight, and a nail or trim screw driven at an angle to pull the joint tight.

If you did this yourself - I apologize for being critical of your work

[frank shic]

gaps are WAY too large and remind me of my earlier attempts at trim work but in all honesty, caulk and paint will hide the mistakes from most people although i don't think anything will fix that terrible butt joint between the baseboards.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

If you did this yourself - I apologize for being critical of your work

No need to apologize, even if I did do it. Honesty is always welcome. I didn't do it, though. If I did, I certainly wouldn't be showing it off.


I guess the question I'm getting at is: Should I accept this work? I'm paying for it. Those pictures are just a representative sample of the whole project. Every joint looks like the ones pictured. I'm responsible for caulking and painting.

Am I being hyper-critical here?

[Tim Malyszko]

I would have to agree that this is sub-par work and would not pay for any of it.

• The window sill needs to be refitted and scribed to match the wall contour.
• The baseboard joints need to be beveled and joined together before installing.
• The corner joint should be coped to achieve a tight, clean fit.
• The mitering around the doors are too loose and will probably get worse as the wood expands/contracts.

While I am an engineer and not a finish carpenter, I've been installing trim since I was 16 for friends and family and know a thing or two about proper installation and this sucks.

I appologize if this is your work.

[Tim Lynch]

Still not clear if this is your house... I wouldn't pay for it if it is.

If it's someone else's, and you are hired to putty and paint this, it seems to me that not only has the poor carpentry increased your work, it is likely to crack and gap more/sooner as well, for which you might be blamed or called back.

[Rob Wright]

Rob- you are not being hypercritical. Just think of what these joints would look like if they were in stained wood - you WOULD NOT ACCEPT THEM - so why should you accept them in painted trim. Like I previously posted, I made my contractor fix all of the joints that I felt did not meet a standard of practice for carpenters. Meaning - scribe the walls, coped joints, beveled butt joints, and tight corners that some what resemble a 90 deg joint.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Just to clear up some details.

No, I didn't do it. Yes, this is my house.

I am paying a contractor to finish my basement. This is part of the whole project. The trim is not priced separately.

I am responsible for caulking and painting.

I still owe the contractor a sizable amount for the job.

[Mark Engel]

The fact that you are asking if it is acceptable tells me that you think it is not. Personally, I would not accept work like that if I was paying a professional to do it.

Since the work was done by someone working for the contractor, I would start with the contractor. Show him all the trim work that you are not happy with and find out his thoughts. He may just agree with you and have it taken care of. If not, you can decide the next steps in getting the work fixed.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

The fact that you are asking if it is acceptable tells me that you think it is not.

Yeah, but I look at things very critically. Want to make sure I'm not going overboard here. After reading the replies here and other places, I don't think I am.

Since the work was done by someone working for the contractor, I would start with the contractor. Show him all the trim work that you are not happy with and find out his thoughts. He may just agree with you and have it taken care of. If not, you can decide the next steps in getting the work fixed.

That is the plan. The contractor is coming out to look at the work today.

[dan moran]

#1 isnt the worst-it can be filled with caulk or half dry painters putty and made to look OK -but sculpting that crap to match the profile takes more time than it takes to make a proper cut..

the inside corners are horrible and you probably should have made it clear that cope joints are to be expected in inside corners.. as some people have no idea what that is or opt to try miters knowing that theyre going to be caulked.. again, they could be sculpted with caulk, but that would take more time and the filler material would probably fall out in 5 years or so..

the scarf joint is no good at all... field joints have to be pretty close to perfect to maintain the illusion of a single stick of moulding over the length of the wall. oftentimes people dont take the care required to make it so due to only knowing the how of the operation without understanding the why..

the kneewall cap isnt so bad, but it could be better,,, shoe moulding would cover the gap, but a better job of scribing the wall could have been done had more care been taken..

with all that being said, i echo the sentiment of a previous poster, if its your own work; dont take it so hard, we never stop learning how to do this stuff....

if you are paying someone to do this and you told the guy to install trim with an expectation of it being done the way you want without explaining your idea of quality work; well, maybe the trimmer thinks what he did is quality work..

caveat emptor, and the man with the gold makes the rules (preferrably before the gold is given)

good luck with that
-dan

[Jamie Buxton]

Good lord, this is painted trim in a basement. It is not fine furniture. Caulk the cracks, fill the nail holes, and paint it. After you get a couple coats of latex paint on it, it'll look fine.

[dan moran]

Good lord, this is painted trim in a basement. It is not fine furniture. Caulk the cracks, fill the nail holes, and paint it. After you get a couple coats of latex paint on it, it'll look fine.

thats probably what the contractor was saying to the cheap labor that installed that abortion...