New baseboard and crown molding
Quick answer
Baseboard protects the bottom of walls and hides flooring gaps. Crown molding adds a finished look at the ceiling. Clean miters, tight joints and good caulk and paint make the difference.
Mid-century homes in Monterey Park often have simple, low baseboards. New baseboard after flooring changes, or crown molding in living spaces, refreshes a room.
Baseboard
Taller baseboard looks more finished. MDF or wood options paint well.
Crown molding
Crown is installed at an angle between wall and ceiling. Corners require compound miters or coping.
Uneven walls and ceilings
Older homes are rarely perfectly square. We scribe and caulk to fill gaps.
Paint
We fill nail holes, caulk seams and paint.
Choosing a profile
Mid-century homes look best with simple, clean profiles: square-edged or lightly eased baseboard rather than ornate colonial shapes. Taller baseboards, around 4 to 5 inches, look balanced in most rooms with 8-foot ceilings.
Materials
MDF is smooth, stable and paints well, which suits most rooms. Finger-jointed pine is sturdier where vacuums and kids bump it. In bathrooms, PVC trim resists moisture.
Coping inside corners
Inside corners look best when coped, meaning one piece is cut to follow the profile of the other. Coped joints stay tight as the house moves; mitered inside corners open up.
With new flooring
When flooring is replaced, baseboard often comes off. That is the ideal time to upgrade to taller trim, which also covers expansion gaps neatly.
Shoe molding
A small shoe molding at the bottom covers gaps on uneven floors without lifting the baseboard.
Choosing a profile
Mid-century homes in Monterey Park usually came with simple, low baseboard, often around three inches tall, and many had no crown molding at all. A taller baseboard, around four to five and a half inches, gives a room a more finished look without fighting the home's style.
Clean, square-edged or lightly eased profiles suit ranch and mid-century architecture. Heavily carved colonial profiles can look out of place under a low, flat ceiling.
Materials
Primed MDF is affordable, smooth and takes paint well, which makes it the most common choice for painted trim. It does not tolerate water, so in bathrooms, laundry rooms and entryways that get mopped often, PVC or finger-jointed pine is a better pick.
Solid wood is the choice for stained trim. Polyurethane crown molding is lightweight and easy to install on long runs.
Crown molding on low ceilings
Crown molding works on eight-foot ceilings when it is scaled correctly. A smaller crown, roughly three to four inches, keeps a low room from feeling cramped. Mid-century homes with sloped or beamed ceilings may not suit crown at all, and those are rooms where we usually suggest skipping it.
Uneven walls and floors
Older walls are rarely flat, and floors are rarely level. Long trim pieces show those flaws. We scribe baseboard to follow a wavy floor, shim or caulk gaps at the top edge, and cope inside corners rather than mitering them.
A coped joint is cut to the profile of the neighboring piece, so it stays tight as the house moves with the seasons. Mitered inside corners tend to open up.
Our steps:
- Remove old trim carefully and mark wall stud locations
- Measure each wall and plan joints over studs
- Cope inside corners and miter outside corners
- Nail into studs and the bottom plate with a finish nailer
- Fill nail holes, caulk the top edge and joints, and paint
Painting trim
Prime raw MDF and wood, then use a semi-gloss or satin enamel for durability. Water-based alkyd enamels level out nicely and resist scuffs. If your existing trim was painted with oil-based paint, the new paint needs a bonding primer; a quick test with denatured alcohol on a cotton swab shows whether old paint is latex (it softens) or oil (it does not).
Lead paint in older homes
Homes built before 1978 may have lead-based paint on original trim. Removing or sanding that trim creates dust that is hazardous, especially for children. If your trim may be original, test it before demolition and use lead-safe practices if it is positive.
In some cases it is easier to leave original trim in place and add new trim around it.
Pairing with flooring
Trim and floors go together. When new flooring goes in, removing the baseboard and reinstalling it, or replacing it, leaves a cleaner edge than adding shoe molding. Our luxury vinyl plank guide covers the floor side.
Door and window casing
Once baseboard is taller, original thin door casings can look undersized. Matching new casing to the baseboard style ties the room together. Replacing casing around a door is a small job compared to a full room of trim, and it can be done room by room.
Where casing meets baseboard, the baseboard should be slightly thinner than the casing so the joint looks intentional. A plinth block at the bottom of each casing is another way to handle the transition, especially when the profiles differ.
Budget and timing
Trim is priced mostly by the linear foot plus the number of corners, not by room size. A room with many short walls, closets and door openings takes more time than a long simple room. Doing several rooms at once, especially when floors are being replaced, saves setup and painting time.
What our visit involves
We remove old trim, install new baseboard or crown, fill, caulk and paint. See baseboard and crown molding.
After a day of trim work, we often stop at NBC Seafood on Atlantic for push-cart dim sum.
Want us to handle it?
Call or text (626) 684-3505, Mon–Sat, 8:30 AM–7 PM. Send a photo and we will give you an upfront quote.
Call or text (626) 684-3505