How do most of you guys install your baseboard trim?  Do you just nail it through the drywall?  Glue it?  My builder is considering stopping the sheet rock 3" short of the floor and ripping some plywood, which he would screw to the ties and use as a nailer.  We're looking at a 4.5" baseboard trim. 

Posted By galnar on 03 Mar 2011 01:09 AM
How do most of you guys install your baseboard trim?  Do you just nail it through the drywall?  Glue it?  My builder is considering stopping the sheet rock 3" short of the floor and ripping some plywood, which he would screw to the ties and use as a nailer.  We're looking at a 4.5" baseboard trim. 

I like this approach but you might use 4" plywood since you'll still have a 1/2" overlap.  I would also reword your statement (just to make sure I understand your plan) to say:  rip plywood to 4" strips and attach 8" OC or whatever your webs are and then start sheetrock on top of nailer.  Sometimes something similar is worthwhile for crown molding as well depending on complexity/size etc.  Regards.

You understand me perfectly! Thanks for your input.

Your sheetrock hangers are going to love you if they have to cut the bottom edge off every piece of wall board on the outside walls. If they know about this upfront, they will probably charge more for it.

He's using 12' sheets so he's planning on cutting them all anyway.

galnar,

Are you located in the arid areas of Western US?  In the Southeast we run the drywall horizontally.  You lost me on the drywall being 12' long.

If your walls are straight just nail your baseboards at an angle and there should be no problem.

Its a mind set thing. Carpenters want to use wood for everything. Consider how thousands of miles of base are attached to steel studs every year and its not that different. Assuming you are using a block with plastic webs, there is more than enough to nail to. You will probably need 2" brads and maybe a little glue from time to time but certainly no reason to go to the expense of cleating the wall. If you are at all interested in using air tight drywall you don't want an extra transition. Bob

I just used spots of foam adhesive to fasten 2.5" baseboard to drywall. Used a weighted 2x to keep trim pressed until foam set. Didn't run continuous bead in case I need to remove later on. Dave

I used 1 x 6 for baseboard and nailed to the ICF webs. I made a mark on the floor or wall at one end of the board to show where the web was and then used a tape measure from there to space the nails to land on the webs. Worked great.

I also went directly on drywall. I had to go with 2" finishing nails and full beed of "no nail glue" . Corners were also fully glued. Reason for the full bead being the use of mdf, put all chances on my side. Nothing moved and corners are still nice and tight!
Dave, full bead of glue or not, paint will come off anyway!

I went wilth the 1/2" plywood approach for the baseboard, but used adhesive for the crown. In retrospect, adhesive would have worked well for the base, as well. A few nails driven at an angle hold the trim tight while the adhesive cures. In the basement, however, I'd still use a plywood strip. If there's ever flooding (a couple of inches of water) in the basement, the gypsum board won't get ruined.