Ideas for clean baseboards and door casing/trim...

Hi everyone, I have been hanging around this awesome site and getting really good ideas. So this is my first post.

Project background - I am remodeling our master bath in our 1994 track home in Scottsdale, az. I have limestone floors, 3x6 subway tiles set edge to edge, Duravit freestsanding tub, glass tile shower and designed wall mounted vanities(floating). I am completing a majority of the work so its been a drawn out process. With a baby due in May, my wife is giving me "the anxious look" to wrap this project up. I plan to post pictures of my work to date.

So my question is, I am mounting a toilet room door(frosted glass panels) and cant decide on the casing or the baseboards for toilet room and some of the bathroom. FYI. I have the subway on 3 walls which run to the limestone floor. So I have short wall and the bath entry to add a baseboard. I am just shy of having enough limestone left over but dont want to use all of it in case I need to repair or source more.

1. is to use a basic 3/4" x 4" primed MDF(no detail - just simple profile) from my local HD. MDF dosent do well with water but its cheap and pre primed.

2. solid wood, a simple rectangular profile. I was thinking to run a shallow groove about .5" from the top, maybe 2 pases on the TS, so 1/4" wide groove. For mimimal detail

3. my least favorite idea is walnut. Which is used for the floating vanities. With BM full moon color paint, too much contrast with the Beiteg blue Limestone.

So anyone have ideas, input, suggestions, dos and donts. I figure this would be a common problem since most DIY home centers offer the typical cove, casing profiles that every other home in town has.

Thanks...Chris

Chris,

We used MDF casing and baseboards all the time on our projects. It is cheap, easy to install, and looks great.

I would highly recommend using 6 inch MDF on the baseboards and 2 inch MDF on the door casing. Don't use the 4 inch. I have used it once before and it doesn't look as good as the 2 inch / 6 inch combo. Put your floors in first, then the MDF trim and then run a bead of caulk between the sheetrock and trim before you paint.

Here is a photo of what it looks like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcminn/325299830/sizes/l/in/set-72057594100738847/

The Fry Reglet detail is far over-rated considering the costs - in my opinion

Previously Jason wrote:

Chris,

We used MDF casing and baseboards all the time on our projects. It is cheap, easy to install, and looks great.

I would highly recommend using 6 inch MDF on the baseboards and 2 inch MDF on the door casing. Don't use the 4 inch. I have used it once before and it doesn't look as good as the 2 inch / 6 inch combo. Put your floors in first, then the MDF trim and then run a bead of caulk between the sheetrock and trim before you paint.

Here is a photo of what it looks like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcminn/325299830/sizes/l/in/set-72057594100738847/

The Fry Reglet detail is far over-rated considering the costs - in my opinion

 

Nice pic. I ended up using the 2" MDF door casing. I ended up having enough limestone for the toilet closet and the short stretch leading into the bathroom, the rest of the space is subway to the floor.

My only concern with MDF in wet areas is water absorbing into the MDF. On the casing ends I applied two coats of Kilz. 

Chris,

Use tile as baseboards in wet areas (bathrooms and laudry room) but MDF will hold up well in other areas. It will hold up in a bathroom as long as you don't flood out your bathroom.

Jason

I would suggest MEDITE.  It's a formaldehyde free MDF.  It's also water resistant.  TXDOT uses it to make the temporary road signs during construction.  It doesn't soak up water like normal MDF.  We've used it in our offices as a table top work surface.  Water rings from coffee/sodas haven't been a problem on our desks and we've been using them for the last 4 years.

Previously chris buttenob wrote:

Previously Jason wrote:

Chris,

We used MDF casing and baseboards all the time on our projects. It is cheap, easy to install, and looks great.

I would highly recommend using 6 inch MDF on the baseboards and 2 inch MDF on the door casing. Don't use the 4 inch. I have used it once before and it doesn't look as good as the 2 inch / 6 inch combo. Put your floors in first, then the MDF trim and then run a bead of caulk between the sheetrock and trim before you paint.

Here is a photo of what it looks like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcminn/325299830/sizes/l/in/set-72057594100738847/

The Fry Reglet detail is far over-rated considering the costs - in my opinion

 

Nice pic. I ended up using the 2" MDF door casing. I ended up having enough limestone for the toilet closet and the short stretch leading into the bathroom, the rest of the space is subway to the floor.

My only concern with MDF in wet areas is water absorbing into the MDF. On the casing ends I applied two coats of Kilz. 

 

Previously Jason wrote:

Chris,

We used MDF casing and baseboards all the time on our projects. It is cheap, easy to install, and looks great.

I would highly recommend using 6 inch MDF on the baseboards and 2 inch MDF on the door casing. Don't use the 4 inch. I have used it once before and it doesn't look as good as the 2 inch / 6 inch combo. Put your floors in first, then the MDF trim and then run a bead of caulk between the sheetrock and trim before you paint.

Here is a photo of what it looks like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcminn/325299830/sizes/l/in/set-72057594100738847/

The Fry Reglet detail is far over-rated considering the costs - in my opinion

Jason,  We are building a house in Omaha and would like to use this detail.   Who makes the 2" mdf casing, and the 6" base?  Please pass on some information if you would... Thanks!

I am going to sort of agree and disagree on the mdf issue. We were going to do the 6" base, 2" door casing idea, but the framers were just enough off that we needed to go with 4" for the doors to cover the holes. I would have liked the 2", but I am happy with the 4". I will say that the 6" makes for a great base.

That all being said, here are a few things to consider. Make sure you get the preprimed stuff. My builder (as one of his last acts before we disposed of him) decided to save some money and bought non-primed mdf. The edges are much rougher and I ended up using spackle on all the exposed edges of the mdf. Then I had to sand them down. Then I used a aklyd primer on all sides of the MDF. Do NOT use a water-based primer or you will have a mess.

But also, mdf is great, but if you someday bang your baseboard with a ladder, chair, tool box, baseball bat, or any of 100 other things you will eventually be moving around your house, it will chip.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably go with 1x3 or 1x6 pine. I'd cut it, prime it, sand it, prime it again, install it, spackle the holes, sand it, and paint it with two coats. Although, I could probably be convinced to use the pre-primed mdf. The pre-primed edges are much smoother and all you need is to install it, spackle the holes, sand and paint it. The cost savings may compensate for the fragility.

You could just run a 1/2" shadow reveal around the openings.  There are plastic (cheap) and aluminum (more expensive) options out there.  These are applied and mudded into the drywall so there is no 'trim' applied over them.

plastic:

http://www.plasticomponents.com/products.asp?CatId=3&SubCatId=18

aluminum:

http://www.fryreglet.com/products-reveals.htm

Here is an image...note the reveal running along the floor, up the stair and around the door jamb:

we are doing something similar what darin suggests. however fryreglet trims are too expensive, so we just got 1/2" x1/2" alluminum c channel from home depot. they are about half price of fryreglet similar trim. this will really add up once you figure out how many feet you need,  your head will spin. so paying half price comes in handy. than you just have your drywaller use end trim (cheap, and basically standard with any drywall job, so you shouldnt pay extra) and butt against c channel. we glued c channel to bottom plate. for the door detail, we just butted drywall against frame using the same end trim for nice clean look.

Previously brano rataj wrote:

we are doing something similar what darin suggests. however fryreglet trims are too expensive, so we just got 1/2" x1/2" alluminum c channel from home depot. they are about half price of fryreglet similar trim. this will really add up once you figure out how many feet you need,  your head will spin. so paying half price comes in handy. than you just have your drywaller use end trim (cheap, and basically standard with any drywall job, so you shouldnt pay extra) and butt against c channel. we glued c channel to bottom plate. for the door detail, we just butted drywall against frame using the same end trim for nice clean look.

Brano -- can you send some pics?

Best,

diane

check out my blog, it is still work in progress and it is hard to see alluminum channels because of all the mess on the floor. i will take a close up shot next time.