Baseboard & Interior Trim Painting in Fort Worth, TX

The line where a baseboard meets the wall, and where casings meet the drywall around doors, is where trim shows its age. Those joints flex as the house moves, and old caulk dries out, cracks and pulls away. We cut out loose caulk, clean the joint and run a fresh bead of a high-performance siliconized acrylic or elastomeric painter's caulk, tooled smooth with a damp finger or tool. Joints wider than about a quarter inch get a foam backer rod first so the caulk can stretch instead of tearing. Mitered corners on crown and casings that have opened up are filled with a sandable wood filler rather than caulk, because caulk shrinks in a deep miter and leaves a visible dip once painted.

Many Fort Worth homes built before the mid-2000s have trim painted with oil-based enamel. Latex paint rolled straight over oil will peel off in strips with a fingernail, sometimes weeks later. We test with a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol: if the paint softens and transfers, it's latex, and if it doesn't, it's oil. Oil trim gets a thorough scuff sand with 150 to 220 grit and a coat of bonding primer before any waterborne enamel goes on. For the finish we prefer waterborne alkyd enamels. They flow out nearly like traditional oil, dry hard, and don't yellow over time the way oil does in rooms with little sunlight.

On hard floors we tape the floor edge with a delicate-surface tape and brush the baseboard down to it. On carpet, we tuck a wide painter's tape under the baseboard edge and press the carpet down with a broad knife, which keeps fibers out of wet paint. Stair skirts and quarter round get the same treatment. Brushing, rather than spraying, is how we finish trim in an occupied home, because it lays enamel into the profile and avoids overspray on walls, floors and furniture. We use a good angled sash brush in the 2 to 2.5 inch range and work in short sections so each length of baseboard stays wet until it's finished end to end.

• Delicate tape along hardwood, tile and vinyl plank
• Tucked tape and broad knife along carpet edges
• Brush-applied enamel in occupied homes
• Quarter round and shoe molding included

Stained oak or pine trim was standard in many 1970s through 1990s Fort Worth houses. Painting it is a popular update, but it needs more prep than repainting. The varnish gets deglossed and scuff sanded, nail holes are filled, and we apply a shellac-based primer to stop wood tannins and knots from bleeding through as yellow or brown spots in white paint. Expect three coats in total over that primer for even color across the grain.

Trim enamel is dry to the touch within a few hours, but the surface stays softer than you'd think for the first week or two. We suggest keeping furniture an inch away from new baseboards, avoiding robot vacuums along fresh trim for several days, and waiting about two weeks before scrubbing. Once cured, a semi-gloss enamel can be wiped down with a damp cloth again and again without dulling or losing its sheen.