Paneling and Trim - Trying to finish off molding around door jamb

Hi, group-

I just installed a laminate floor in my house, and am trying to cleanly cover 2 gaps I have around the base of a closet door jamb. Here's a picture of the gaps:

Picasa Web Albums - Mark - 2009-10-12 (http://picasaweb.google.com/mjpatey/20091012#5391787468002992594)

I have additional quarter-round molding, but if I cut away the bottom of the door jamb and continue the quarter-round under it, the unfinished end of the quarter-round will show.

Is there a standard way to work around this? I'm at a loss. Any ideas you may have are welcome!

Thanks,

-Mark

Mark: two ways to do it. Apply caulk under the jamb and wipe it lightly with a damp sponge, let it dry and paint with an artist's brush. Cut a small sliver of the WM366 case molding and place under the existing using hot glue. Lightly sand it and paint it.
Using quarter round under the case molding will not be appropriate. Let us know how it goes.

I have caulked gaps under casing/jambs that wide but it's better to insert a thin slice of the trim. If the carpenter just cuts them, I'll use caulking to both hold them in place and hide the crack.

Thanks, both of you. I think I'll try the suggestion you both gave, cutting a similar piece of molding and attaching it under the existing jamb.

I don't know a lot about these things. The WM366 case molding... will Home Depot or Lowes have it, and will it be exactly the same shape as what I have?

In the picture, it looks like the standard colonial casing profile. You shouldn't have any problem finding it if that's the case.

One other thing, once you patch in the new bottoms, you may want to chamfer the shoe molding (looks like quarter-round in this case) so that it tapers back into the baseboard where they meet.

Yeah, I bought a 6' piece of oak that looked right, but isn't quite wide enough and is missing one of the curves. Do you think there's a chance I can use this as a base and fill it out with wood filler to match the original, then sand and paint, or will that be too weak?

You can probably fill it in. I would use Bondo...yep, the same stuff they use on a car body. Minwax sells the same thing with their label as a wood filler. I don't think there is any difference in the two products other than the label.

Now, I'm surprised you got oak trim. If you have a big box store near your, either blue or orange, they should have this stuff in paint grade or stain grade. It will be some type of softwood, such as pine, not oak. Where did you get the oak?

At the orange place, actually! They did have pine moldings, but nothing of the type I needed. The oak is splintery, because my saw needs a new blade... may be making another trip today.

To make it look right, and to carry Randy's comment further, lay your shoe or 1/4 round where you have it, and make a vertical line provided by the case molding. Then camfer it back to that line only, not to a sharp point. Randy, I am sure this is what you were referring to, I just couldn't resist.

Thanks chandler! That is definitely what I was attempting to describe.

Knowing what to do and being able to convey it to someone on these forums are two different things. My hat's off to you regulars who seem to do that very well. Please feel free to help me out anytime.

OK, I bought some pine molding, this time from the big blue store, and brought it home. What I discovered is that the space I have isn't deep enough for the piece of molding. I could have hacked away to remove the already splintered wood that's exposed under there, but when I started to, it started bending the case molding away from whatever it's attached to. Not a lot, but enough that I didn't want to keep going.

I don't have the tools to cut down the slice of molding to make it fit, so I called an audible. Instead of using the molding, I squirted wood filler in the space, then molded it using a putty knife lined up with the contours of the existing molding. As it dried, it lost shape a little, but I sanded and applied more on top and re-shaped. It looks pretty good right now, though I'm sure it's not as robust as using a real piece of wood! I'm going to apply one more round of wood filler in a couple of spots later today, and post a pic.

What do you all think, should this hold up OK, or will I be back here again in a few weeks' time?

mjpatey,

Hard to tell. It depends on the type of filler you used and other variables. In your situation, it certainly seems worth a try.

Good luck.

Now that you have filler in, make the last coat Alex plus caulking, wiping with a wet sponge. Let it dry and paint it.
Yeah, Randy, doing it 40 times a day is a lot different than trying to tell someone how to do it, right?
Mjpatey, let's have some more pix to see how it goes.

Larry

Well, for better or worse, here it is:

Picasa Web Albums - Mark - 2009-10-17 (http://picasaweb.google.com/mjpatey/20091017?feat=directlink)

Chandler, I wish I'd gotten your last message before painting! I gave it a little more filler, sculpting with the putty knife, etc. Used a 1 1/2" brad to contour around the bottom where it meets the floor, which you can't really see in these shots. These close-ups show every flaw (plus I'm raking the light across them from the side so it's exaggerated over what you'd see normally).

I noticed in the photos, the moldings themselves have lots of nicks in them, which probably doesn't bode well for my little sculptures! If they do disintegrate, at least I know where to read to do it over.

Looks good! Remember nobody is going to be crawling around your floor inspecting your woodwork :D if they do, maybe you need a new group of friends :p

Minor nicks and defects on the lower portion of the trim often go unnoticed. I've always said that there is no such thing as a perfect paint job. The best you can hope for is the illusion of a perfect job :D

If anyone is crawling around looking at your base molding, at least they will be in the proper position for you to boot 'em on out the door.

LOL! Thanks, guys! If it gets worn away or somebody knocks a chunk of it out with their shoe, I'll be back here whimpering again.

Thanks for the expert advice!

-Mark