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May 9 - 15, 2013
Tidbits of Casper - For Advertising call 307-473-8661 • 161 South Fenway, Casper, WY
May 9 - 15, 2013
Volume 8, Week 18 THIS IS A HAMMER By Samantha Mazzotta
Kid-Tough Baseboards Q: For a recent do-it-yourself project, I replaced the baseboard along two walls of the kids’ playroom with a length of two-by-four wood. The kids tend to ram their toys into the base of the wall and this dented and marred the original baseboard and even damaged the drywall behind it. I removed the original baseboard. I also patched the damaged sections of drywall by cutting them away and replacing with new pieces of drywall held in place with wooden strips behind the drywall. This also helped to reinforce the base of the wall. Next, at my home-improvement store, I had two pieces of 2-by-4 cut to the length of each wall’s base. I left a quarter-inch off each end because I decided to leave the baseboard in place on the other walls. There was one error here: I had to re-cut one piece of wood because I forgot the two pieces would intersect at one corner. But it was not too difficult to saw off a couple of inches from one end. I attached the new “bumper boards” to the wall studs. To make it easier, I located and marked the studs first, then pre-drilled the boards. Once the boards were in place, I attached them to the studs using 4-inch wood screws, countersunk the screw heads slightly and covered with wood putty to hide them from the kids. Finally, I painted the new boards. The plain wood tended to soak up paint, so I had to put on two coats of primer first. Then I painted them with a “kid-resistant” paint (available at any paint store) with an eggshell finish that is easier to wipe clean. Once the kids are grown, I will likely replace the bumper boards with regular baseboard. You can save the old baseboard, but mine is too damaged, so I plan to scrap it and start