Trim work

[Sumboodie]

My shop is without any window cases or trim, also several doors don't have trim either. Also no baseboards in the apartment.

I'm contemplating a few options and looking for thoughts.

Originally I was going to go with rough cut lumber and plain it, but it would be a process 2-3 years in the making with needing to let the wood dry first.

Gave thought to cutting 2x4s and 2x6s in half. A 2x6x8 is about $10, so I'd have about $5 per ~3/4x6x8. A 2x4 is about $5.50, so ~$2.75 a trim board.

Plywood was another thought. about $60 a sheet and that would make about 11 4"x8ft trim pieces, so about $5.50

Another option is just going with 3/4" boards, but they are running about $18 per 3/4"x6x8 board and $14 for 4" wide.

 

[Zeke]

Green lumber and plywood are not good choices. The GL will look bad after splitting; it will cup, warp, bow or all 3. PW has rough edges and voids. MDF would be a better choice. But, if you consider MDF, they already have reasonably priced 16" lengths in various widths. Same with foam core vinyl.

 

[Wolley]

If you have a planer, jointer, tablesaw, etc, I'd keep looking for some dry rough lumber. Around here you can buy for around 1$/boardfoot or less.

 

[Sumboodie]

Green lumber and plywood are not good choices. The GL will look bad after splitting; it will cup, warp, bow or all 3. PW has rough edges and voids. MDF would be a better choice. But, if you consider MDF, they already have reasonably priced 16" lengths in various widths. Same with foam core vinyl.

Green lumber wasn't an option that I was looking into.

MDF swells if it gets wet. Horrible choice for window casings. Foam board is very expensive - about $20 per 8ft 1x4

 

[Sumboodie]

If you have a planer, jointer, tablesaw, etc, I'd keep looking for some dry rough lumber. Around here you can buy for around 1$/boardfoot or less.

Yes. Doesn't exist, especially not that cheap. Maybe 15 years ago.

 

[Renegade1LI]

1 x 3 pine is a cheaper easier choice if you’re looking to keep it simple.

 

[Sumboodie]

1 x 3 pine is a cheaper easier choice if you’re looking to keep it simple.

$12 a stick.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Just checked hd it was 6.54 for an 8’ pc

1 in. x 3 in. x 8 ft. Premium Kiln-Dried Square Edge Whitewood Common Softwood Boards Board

 

[Sumboodie]

Just checked hd it was 6.54 for an 8’ pc

1 in. x 3 in. x 8 ft. Premium Kiln-Dried Square Edge Whitewood Common Softwood Boards Board

Not available here.

1 in. x 3 in. x 8 ft. Select Kiln-Dried Square Edge Whitewood Board 418545

The 1 in. x 3 in. x 8 ft. Select Kiln-Dried Square Edge Whitewood Board provides you with the perfect solution for all your project needs. These boards combine the highest grade available in the market

www.homedepot.com

 

[Sumboodie]

I have 5 or 6 doors to trim out, 4 windows that need cases and trim and then baseboard. Roughly 700ish feet needed.

 

[Zeke]

Green lumber wasn't an option that I was looking into.

MDF swells if it gets wet. Horrible choice for window casings. Foam board is very expensive - about $20 per 8ft 1x4

What kind of 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 are you talking about then? Kiln dried? That's really expensive. Sorry you don't like MDF. I used miles of it installing windows for 25 years. Of course mine didn't leak or I'd get a call. You can always prime the joints. The backs are already primed.

As a matter of fact, any wood will be damaged by a leaky window, so you might as well just go ahead and use the plywood. Primed well it should give you some mileage.

 

[CraigStu]

I know mdf and water don't work well but go look at trim in HD or L. A LOT of it is mdf. There are some nice pluses. It is relatively cheap. It doesn't warp or twist. I doesn't have a dozen finger joints in each piece. It bends more easily so adapts to less than perfectly flat walls and less than perfect window case to wall surface height matching. I'd use it in a heartbeat. One other thought. I can see you are thinking you can save $ by buying less expensive wood and running it through your planer etc. But dang 700 ft through your planer adds up to some serious time spent so will you really save?

 

[The Cobbler]

plywood would work , but I would fill the cut edges with drywall compound & sand to fill in voids etc . it will be very plain , of that's the look you're going for
making your own decorative trim with planers, routers etc is time consuming with homeowner grade tools , and unless you get the material for free, you're probably not saving that much .

 

[Sumboodie]

What kind of 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 are you talking about then? Kiln dried? That's really expensive. Sorry you don't like MDF. I used miles of it installing windows for 25 years. Of course mine didn't leak or I'd get a call. You can always prime the joints. The backs are already primed.

As a matter of fact, any wood will be damaged by a leaky window, so you might as well just go ahead and use the plywood. Primed well it should give you some mileage.

#1 grade 2x4 and 2x6 from the hardware store. I'd be the cheapest option so far.

The windows don't leak, winters cause most windows to sweat and sometimes it freezes up and there's ice even. 70* indoors, -25* outdoors, doesn't take very much humidity for it to happen.

I had MDF casings and mouldings in my old house. I ended up putting towels on the sill in winter and putting plastic sheeting, as it was ruining the sills, even after I had painted them with Kilz and several coats of outdoor rated paint.

 

[Sumboodie]

I know mdf and water don't work well but go look at trim in HD or L. A LOT of it is mdf. There are some nice pluses. It is relatively cheap. It doesn't warp or twist. I doesn't have a dozen finger joints in each piece. It bends more easily so adapts to less than perfectly flat walls and less than perfect window case to wall surface height matching. I'd use it in a heartbeat. One other thought. I can see you are thinking you can save $ by buying less expensive wood and running it through your planer etc. But dang 700 ft through your planer adds up to some serious time spent so will you really save?

That's only ~90 boards. When I worked at the sawmill, we'd do a few hundred in an afternoon. Granted that was on a bigger planer (240v Grizzly), but once it's setup, and with 2 guys it's pretty darn quick work.

 

[Zeke]

Any lumber not kiln dried is 'green' lumber with <30% moisture. I guess you have a nice hardware store. Around here HW stores carry utility lumber. Full of knots and splits. It can be dried but it's not trim grade. But I'll admit, I know nothing about AK and the weather extremes AFA building products go. MDF might not be a good idea if you have that much condensation.

 

[Augus7us]

I'm completely lost on this thread. Perhaps I'm missing something, but from what you are saying, I think your only option is pressure treated lumber...

 

[nitroracer20]

What is your time value of money? Do you want to rip all these boards down, plane / joint, router etc? Or buy turnkey…

If moisture is that much of a concern, maybe azek… if moisture is really that much of a concern, what about the rest of your window casings, jambs, apron, stool….

 

[rnixon]

I got almost all of the trim boards for my garage free. The really good stuff came from a 70 year old garden shed I took down for a neighbor. All of it was full dimension lumber, most was pine , some was oak ,and it planed into some beautiful pieces , full of color and character, [nail holes ] .The longer pieces came from tobacco barns that had collapsed,I also got some nice oak from pallets , used to ship huge rolls of news print paper



In the pictures ,the window casing an trim and some of the door trim came from the garden shed . The barn boards ,were ripped to trim the stem wall an ceilings and the raised panel wainscoting are 6 panel hollow core doors, that I got free, cut in half an turned upside down . The loft railing are “real” 2x4’s and the stair well railing are salvaged 4x4’s

 

[Sumboodie]

Any lumber not kiln dried is 'green' lumber with <30% moisture. I guess you have a nice hardware store. Around here HW stores carry utility lumber. Full of knots and splits. It can be dried but it's not trim grade. But I'll admit, I know nothing about AK and the weather extremes AFA building products go. MDF might not be a good idea if you have that much condensation.

Negative. Lumber that is under 20% is dry, and not "green". Doesn't matter how it's been dried. Can sticker it and store in a barn for a couple years and it'll be just as dry as a kiln would do in a week.

 

[Sumboodie]

What is your time value of money? Do you want to rip all these boards down, plane / joint, router etc? Or buy turnkey…

If moisture is that much of a concern, maybe azek… if moisture is really that much of a concern, what about the rest of your window casings, jambs, apron, stool….

Not using MDF. End of discussion on that. May as well just use cardboard at that point.

 

[jar944]

I'd use clear poplar personally, but if you are trying to stay at $5 per 8' stick of trim you are limited.

 

[Hubmonkey]

cutting down 2x4 is not a really good option as is has lots of stress in the board. When you cut it down they will warp and curl when you release this stress... IT can be done but sometimes the result is not very good if you are trying to be precise like with trim.

That's not to say it should not be done as I like to make my own stuff and not advocating for buying expensive trim if you can make it.

Hub

 

[Zeke]

Negative. Lumber that is under 20% is dry, and not "green". Doesn't matter how it's been dried.

Well, you know more than I. Good luck on your project.

 

[billconner]

I have been able to find rough sawn lumber kiln dried. Easy to plane one side and join edges on a table saw. Is the availability of kiln dried rough sawn not an option where you are? With a little time and money, not too far fetched to build a smal diy kiln of foam boards.

 

[Sumboodie]

Well, you know more than I. Good luck on your project.

Didn't say that, just said that your statement wasn't correct.

 

[Sumboodie]

I have been able to find rough sawn lumber kiln dried. Easy to plane one side and join edges on a table saw. Is the availability of kiln dried rough sawn not an option where you are? With a little time and money, not too far fetched to build a smal diy kiln of foam boards.

There are only 3 "sawmills" that I know of and they are all very small operations. Like 1-2 people operation and has a Woodmizer small.

They wouldn't run a kiln, even if available, unless there was a full load. Drying a load of lumber costs in the area of $600-800. The one sawmill for sure hasn't used the kiln for lumber since about 2017.

The one guy I was looking to get poplar from is gone hunting for "I'll get home when I feel like it". It wouldn't be dry, but I was planning to just stack it and use it next year.

I have plans to build a kiln for firewood, using either a conex or van trailer, but it's not in the works right now. Plus firewood drying is WAY different.

 

[Sumboodie]

I'd use clear poplar personally, but if you are trying to stay at $5 per 8' stick of trim you are limited.

If I can get ahold of the guy that got a bunch of logs from me that's what I'll end up using.

 

[yeldogt]

I got almost all of the trim boards for my garage free. The really good stuff came from a 70 year old garden shed I took down for a neighbor. All of it was full dimension lumber, most was pine , some was oak ,and it planed into some beautiful pieces , full of color and character, [nail holes ] .The longer pieces came from tobacco barns that had collapsed,I also got some nice oak from pallets , used to ship huge rolls of news print paper



In the pictures ,the window casing an trim and some of the door trim came from the garden shed . The barn boards ,were ripped to trim the stem wall an ceilings and the raised panel wainscoting are 6 panel hollow core doors, that I got free, cut in half an turned upside down . The loft railing are “real” 2x4’s and the stair well railing are salvaged 4x4’s

Good job on the reclaimed. One of my first projects was a beat up bungalow and the only fix was to reside it .... as I started to rip off the 10" claps I noticed a cool looking stamp on the back "California" ... this caught my eye in NJ. Here it was redwood and not beveled ... We soaked the boards and almost all the paint came off and flipping them over I redid porch .. stuff was gorgeous.

 

[Renegade1LI]

FWIW

Green wood - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bert_]

I'm surprised by the suggestions of MDF. That's always been the cheap way to trim when you are building to sell and it will be someone else's problem in 15-20 years when the ends start swelling up. It's a junk product IMO.

I don't know what kind of equipment you have but ripping a 2x6 vertically isn't a small job, to me anyway. Hopefully you are putting a value on your time.

Just tossing around ideas, what about vinyl base? I'm not sure what it costs.

 

[jar944]

I'm surprised by the suggestions of MDF. That's always been the cheap way to trim when you are building to sell and it will be someone else's problem in 15-20 years when the ends start swelling up. It's a junk product IMO.

I don't know what kind of equipment you have but ripping a 2x6 vertically isn't a small job, to me anyway. Hopefully you are putting a value on your time.

Just tossing around ideas, what about vinyl base? I'm not sure what it costs.

Lots of mdf trim everywhere. There are a lot better products than commodity mdf. Moisture resistant mdf is a lot like Advantech. It's just not comparable to the standard product. Looks better then the fj pine garbage from day 1. I wouldn't use it in my own house for trim but..

 

[Sumboodie]

FWIW

Green wood - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yup.

I am actually one of the very few state certified seasoned wood vendors. We have to certify it's under 20% with an approved meter.

 

[Sumboodie]

Lots of mdf trim everywhere. There are a lot better products than commodity mdf. Moisture resistant mdf is a lot like Advantech. It's just not comparable to the standard product. Looks better then the fj pine garbage from day 1. I wouldn't use it in my own house for trim but..

Not familiar with it.

The stuff used in my old house swelled if it got wet. Didn't take much either.

 

[4x4Pete]

I did the outside of my shop with rough cut board and battens. I used some leftover battens to trim out the windows and mandoor. Looks better than nothing and it kinda goes with the rustic look. I trimmed the windows with a silll and trim below the sill and around the top 3 sides.