# Butted + mitered baseboards



## Deena Lawrence (Mar 2, 2020)

Hi to all, thanks in advance for perspective. I am replacing the casings and baseboards in my condo and going for simple and minimal. I've decided to go 5.25 x .6875 for the baseboards in a plain craftsman style MDF and 3.5 x .59375 for the door casings. I'm attracted to clean lines and have done a bit of reading. I've decided to butt the joints around the doors and in inner corners and miter the outer corners. 



Any advice, perspective, potential challenges, things to bear in mind, etc? I haven't worked with MDF or mitered baseboards before. 



Deena


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

For best appearance outer corner are mitered, inner corners are coped:

http://benchnotes.com/Coping Joints/coping_joint.htm


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## Deena Lawrence (Mar 2, 2020)

Yes thank you, I am planning on as mentioned, inside butted, outside corner mitered. Any perspective on that scenario greatly appreciated.


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## Frost (Sep 24, 2018)

If your baseboard has no profile and is a simple board, then a butt joint on inside corners is, in effect, a cope so nothing wrong there. The issue I see is that your baseboard is thicker than door casings. Usually it's the opposite such that the baseboard dies into thicker casings, but to each their own . MDF paints great but you'll need to pay attention to sawn edges, you may want to sand and paint those before installation. Now that I think of it, mdf does not tolerate moisture well, so you'd be well served to prime all 4 sides before installing , particularly the edge sitting on the floor. just in case you do occasional mopping. I'm sure you'll do fine, good luck.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

As you enter the room the baseboard on the wall facing you should be butted into the corner and the one along the side coped to it so any openings in the joint don't show.


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

Just curious--why are you working with decimals that work out to 11/16 and 19/32? It makes life more complicated.


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## sunnybob (Sep 3, 2016)

MDF dust is the most dangerous of all the wood dusts. Its so fine you can barely see it even when youre looking for it and its mostly made of chemicals.

Take special care to cut it as outside as possible and wear a good mask, then change your clothes and shower afterwards.
Metric inches...... the very worst of all measurements.
I suspect the OP usually works in Metric and has used a calculator to cater for this mostly american audience.


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## Deena Lawrence (Mar 2, 2020)

It makes life easier for me....


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## Deena Lawrence (Mar 2, 2020)

I think too that I will be routing splines into the corners no matter butted or mitered. I want strong joints that look good.


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## CharleyL (Jan 13, 2019)

I'm not a fan of MDF for much of anything. Moisture and humidity do bad things to it. In a non air conditioned space, expect swelling and disintegrating of the MDF over time. If your baseboard is just flat with no molded top edge, coping is still a good idea, and a bit easier to do. Just cut the board that will butt up against the mating board at a slight angle of a few degrees cope. When you join this to the mating board, if the corner of the room isn't a perfect 90 your joint will show no gaps as it wood if the room corner is slightly more than 90. 

For center joints between corners, I miter both pieces so that one overlaps the other. Doing this makes the joint less visible if it doesn't fit perfectly together.

For door frame trim, you just have to be as perfect as you can with your joinery.

Charley


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## phaelax (Dec 24, 2018)

If it's a simple or plain molding, a butt joint on the outside might work better in some instances, such as walls that aren't square. It'd be easier shaving one flat edge to match up than mitering some weird angle on two pieces. Just my 2 cents after doing it to my 80 yr old crooked as **** house.


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