How To Cover Nails In Mouldings

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Smash holes can ruin the advent of trim on a wall. Fortunately, filling in nail holes in trim is a uncomplicated procedure. Before you lot make full in the holes, you'll demand to become over them with a putty pocketknife and sandpaper to make sure they're smooth. Then y'all can fill them in with spackling and paint over them. If you lot use the right tools and supplies, you'll accept make-new looking trim that's free of cruddy nail holes.

1
Hammer in any nails that are protruding from the trim with a blast fix. You can detect a nail gear up at your local hardware shop if you lot don't accept one. Hold the pointed end of the nail set on the head of the nail. Hammer the nail set up so the blast goes into the trim. If the trim is held on with staples, use a flat-head screwdriver approximately the same size as the staples to tap them into the trim.^[1]
- Use a putty knife or painter's 5-in-1 tool to pry up any staples or nails that are bent into the wood. Then, use needle-nose pliers to remove the staple or blast from the trim.
2
Utilize a putty knife to scrape off any raised fragments around the holes. Sometimes nail holes in trim tin course a raised border. It's important to become rid of these edges on the trim or they'll show later yous fill up the holes. Scrape the putty knife across the surface of the nail hole a few times to polish out the area around the pigsty.^[2]
- Be gentle when yous're using the putty knife. You don't want to cause damage to the trim around the smash holes.
- If the trim has ridges or raised edges, utilize a butter knife to remove the fragments so you don't impairment the details.
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3

Polish downward the nail holes with fine-grit sandpaper. Any sandpaper with a form between 120 and 220 will piece of work. The sandpaper should be able to go off any raised fragments on the trim that the putty knife couldn't. Brush the sandpaper across the surface of the boom holes a few times until they experience shine.^[three]

i
Go shrink-gratuitous spackling. Shrink-free spackling won't shrink when it dries in the holes on the trim. Avoid spackling that shrinks or you lot could terminate upward with dips in the holes you lot fill in. You tin can notice compress-free spackling online or at your local hardware store.^[4]
- You can use water-based forest filler or fifty-fifty painter's caulk every bit alternatives. The forest filler can be sanded down smooth, and you can paint over information technology for a seamless end. The caulk will be more noticeable, however.
2

Scoop out some spackling from the container with a putty knife. You don't need a lot. You just desire plenty on the pocketknife to fill in a nail pigsty. Scoop out the spackle with the end of the knife and then it's easier to press into a pigsty.^[5]
3
Press the spackling on the knife into ane of the blast holes. Start with the border of the knife on one side of the hole at a 45-degree angle. Scrape the knife across the surface of the pigsty to the other side. Press firmly down on the pocketknife so the spackling completely fills in the boom pigsty. Scrape across the surface of the hole 2 or iii times to make sure the spackling is flat. ^[6]
- To smooth out the spackling and/or make full the holes, you lot can besides use your finger.
four

Employ a damp cloth to wipe away any excess spackling effectually the hole. Practise this immediately afterwards you spackle all the holes in the trim so the spackling doesn't have time to dry.^[7]
five

Let the spackling dry for 2-3 hours. Check back on the spackling subsequently a few hours to see if it'south dry out. If it's not, let information technology continue drying. If you observe a dip in the spackling inside the nail pigsty, use another coat and await 2-3 more hours for the new coat of spackling to dry.^[eight]
6

Sand off excess spackling with a fine-grit sandpaper. Lightly brush the sandpaper across the surface of the trim where the hole is until the spackling is flush with the trim. ^[9]

1

Wipe down and vacuum the trim and so there's no leftover dust. Any grit particles left on the trim may exist visible after you finish painting. Use a paintbrush or cloth to wipe down the surface of the trim, and attach a brush head to the vacuum for the best results.^[10]
2

Utilise a spot primer over the spackled nail holes. Spot primer will prevent the spackling spots on the trim from looking unlike from the residue of the trim when they get painted over. Use a paintbrush to utilize a thin coat of spot primer over each filled-in blast hole. You tin notice spot primer at your local hardware store.^[11]
three

Put painter'southward tape on whatsoever surfaces y'all don't want paint to get on. Embrace the parts of the walls direct around the trim. Use a strip of painter's tape to the flooring if you're painting a baseboard.^[12]
iv

Paint the trim using a paintbrush. Utilize the same pigment that was used on the residuum of the trim. Yous may need to do multiple coats earlier the paint looks even on the trim. If you lot sanded down the filled blast holes and primed them with a spot primer, they should be completely hidden backside the fresh pigment.^[13]

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What exercise you use to make full blast holes in trim?

Art Fricke
Abode Renovation & Repair Specialist

Art Fricke is a dwelling house renovation and repair specialist and the owner of Art Tile & Renovation based in Austin, Texas. With over 10 years of experience, he specializes in bathroom and kitchen renovations. Art focuses on a single contractor approach to customized renovation work, and performs projects such as installing custom tile showers, fixing tiled shower leaks, replacing croaky tiles, and installing floor and wall tile.

Home Renovation & Repair Specialist

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Use plastic wood or woods filler to fill up in the hole, and so let it dry out for a few hours. Once it's dry, sand downward the wood filler and then information technology'southward perfectly affluent, then paint over it. It should be completely invisible.

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VideoRead Video Transcript

There's no need to fill the holes if they were fabricated with a brad nailer, every bit painting over them will crusade them to virtually disappear.

Things You'll Demand

Hammer
Nail set
Putty knife
Fine-grit sandpaper
Shrink-free spackling, painter's caulk, or water-based forest filler
Cloth
Vacuum
Spot primer
Painter's tape
Paint
Pigment brush
5-in-i painter's tool (optional)
Needle-nose pliers (optional)
Flat-head screwdriver (optional)
Butter pocketknife (optional)

About This Article

Article Summary X

Nail holes can ruin the appearance of trim on a wall, merely fortunately filling these tiny holes in is a uncomplicated process. Earlier you fill in the holes, use a putty pocketknife to scrape off any raised fragments effectually them. Yous tin can also smooth over these holes with a fine-grit sandpaper, which should exist able to get rid of whatsoever raised fragments on the trim that the putty pocketknife couldn't get. So put some shrink-complimentary spackling on a knife and scrape it across the surface of the hole. Correct after you spackle the holes, use a clammy cloth to wipe abroad any backlog around the hole. Let the spackling dry for 2 to 3 hours, and so apply a 2nd glaze or sand off whatsoever excess with a fine-grit sandpaper. Finally, paint over the holes by applying a spot primer and the same paint that was used on the rest of the trim. To learn how to hammer in any nails that are protruding from your trim, continue reading!

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