My old foreman always insisted on using a 3/4-inch spacer for scribing baseboard, but on this weird old house in Portland, it left a huge gap against the wavy plaster wall.

Switched to a 1-inch spacer like the homeowner suggested, and the fit was perfect, so what's your go-to method for dealing with really uneven walls?

4 comments

4 Comments

sean8541mo ago

Yo holy crap, freehand scribing sounds sketchy as hell on old lathe and plaster. Like, how do you even keep the pencil steady when the wall dips an inch in the middle of a 12 foot run? I tried that once on a victorian and the line looked like a heart monitor flatline crossed with a rollercoaster. My fat thumb kept catching on all the bumps and I ended up with a cut that was somehow both too tight and too loose at the same time. Did you build up a special technique for keeping the pencil tip riding the wall without dragging your whole hand through the texture?

aaron_perry3mo ago

Honestly, I stopped using a set spacer years ago. On bad walls, I just scribe a line freehand with a pencil and cut to that. It takes a second longer, but you can't beat the custom fit.

jamie_webb673mo agoTop Commenter

That sounds like a great way to waste time and end up with a wobbly cut.

graceowens3mo ago

Oh man, my freehand cuts are so bad they look like a toddler with the shakes did them. I tried to cut a simple straight line for a shelf last week and ended up with something that belongs in a funhouse. My spacer might be slow, but at least it keeps my projects from looking like modern art.