Loose Trim

[Baldicon]

Our trim at the top of the kitchen slide wall is coming loose. I can see holes left in the wall where the staples pulled out. This seems to be a common problem, so probably a lot of DIY repairs. My question is what did you use to secure the trim back to the wall?

Thanks in advance

[Dave W]

I pulled it off the same slide accidentally when I slipped on a step stool putting additional shelves in a cabinet. The staples used were way too short.



Super easy repair, for me anyhow. 5 - 6 round head Phillips screws, equally spaced. Then my DW painted them to match. If your trim has dark accents, they will easily blend in.

[davemitchell59]

Our trim over the bathroom door came off on both sides. I would agree with Dave W ... The staples/nails used are too short.


I used a dab of glue and brad nails which hide themselves pretty well. Screws will certainly be more secure if you do a good job of hiding them. The bathroom trim isn't a good candidate for screws.


One caution on using glue ... If it comes off again, it will pull the wall covering off with it.

[Baldicon]

Thanks for replies. What length screws/brads/nails did you use? I don't want to go through the wall.

[davemitchell59]

I used 1-1/2" brads over the bathroom. The trim is not quite 3/4", so a good 3/4" into the header over the door. The header over the door looks to be 1-1/2", so I had plenty of thickness to anchor into.


I don't know if I read/heard this somewhere or if it's just my philosophy, but I typically use a fastener that is 2 times the length of the material I'm trying to hold in place. It might be overkill, but it seems to stay in place. I'll use less fasteners if I'm using screws and will put way too many brads in if I'm using brads. ;-)


Hopefully you can find the header over the slide that the trim is suppose to attach to. I haven't looked, but assume their is at least 1-1/2" to nail to.

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by Baldicon

Thanks for replies. What length screws/brads/nails did you use? I don't want to go through the wall.

There is some ~3/4" thick backing wood behind our trim. I don't know how thick your trim is at that attachment point - ours is ~3/4". That would, as in our case, use 1-1/4 #6 screws - !-1/2" would probably work just as well. Pre drill the trim to prevent cracking but you shouldn't have to on the backing wood on the slide. You may be able to find some pre finished screws at a good hardware (H-D/Lowe's didn't have them in a loose baggie).

A note - Harbor Freight has a 25 buck or thereabouts narrow crown (1/4") air staple tool for the 'purists' but you still need to hide those fasteners too. I have one for other odd jobs around the house and RV and that tool does a nice job too