How To Cover Nail Gun Holes

What's that you don't see? Nail holes! It seems so simple, so easy to putty and pigment, but those holes are really hard to hide completely (really, look at your friends' houses).

Here's the stride-by-pace guide on how to get deliciously smooth trim.

The Headache

The trouble with common trim is that information technology'due south made out of MDF (medium-density fiberboard), and then whatever bit of water, like from h2o-based paint and putty, volition arrive balloon out similar pressed forest.

The putty technique about people apply often results in divots inside the hole, so you're left with a low inside the hole and a raised crash-land on the exterior from the MDF.

This painstaking method takes 3 days to complete a section of trim, just the results are soul-satisfying.

Materials

MDF boards
Pneumatic boom gun

Latex Caulk with Silicone

Amazon

Typical caulk that y'all can notice at Domicile Depot / Lowe's.

Lightweight Spackling

Amazon

You need lightweight spackling, not the pink one.

Headlamp

Amazon

The Black Diamond Spot puts out 300 lumens. Climbing headlamps like this are key. Besides very handy for cranium piece of work.

Sanding Block and 220-Grit Sandpaper

Amazon

Yous want a heavy sanding block; most from Domicile Depot and Lowe'southward are plastic. The heavy ones let you lot sand efficiently.

Oil Based Primer

Amazon

You need oil-based pigment to seal the holes before applying water-based paint.

Stride one: Spray or castor paint the MDF boards

MDF boards are unremarkably already pre-primed but a good glaze now will brand it easier later. You won't have pigment the baseboard where information technology meets the floor; you'll just have the nail holes to paint.

how to fill nail holes in mdf trim painting — Setting up boards to paint.

Step two: Cutting the baseboard or trim piece to height & length

how to fill nail holes in mdf trim cutting — Trimming to make a custom height.

Footstep iii: Boom gun the baseboard or trim to the wall

We used a pneumatic boom gun with an air compressor.

Step four. Caulk the seams

From here on out, use a headlamp all the time to encounter minor imperfections. Amply caulk a length, so run a wet finger over it to wipe away excess. You'll waste about half the caulk. I kept a small mug of h2o to re-wet my hand and a damp cloth shut past.

how to fill nail holes in mdf trim caulking — Headlamp FTW.

Step 5. Sand the nail holes

The pressure of the smash gun will crusade a "mushroom" to balloon out of the hole. Use 220grit sandpaper on a sanding block to get information technology smooth with the rest of the lath. You'll remove the primer paint you put on.

Pace 6. Vacuum dust out of nail holes

…and wipe downward with a slightly damp material. If you leave the dust from your sanding in the holes, it'll expand when you putty the hole and you're back to mushroom.

Step vii. Use lightweight putty in smash holes

…andpermit dry overnight. Don't apply the heavier pink putty–that works better in drywall. The lightweight putty will mushroom less. Notation: this putty dries out fast and so get the small-scale container.

how to fill nail holes in mdf trim putty — Scrape away extra. Don't worry almost getting information technology perfect. You need to exercise this a 2nd time anyways.

Stride 8. Sand the holes once more

The next day, after the lightweight putty dries, sand putty holes with that sanding block and 220 grit sandpaper.

Step 9. Repeat

Put a coat of lightweight putty on the holes over again–often the putty will collapse in, then you want to go that divot perfectly level. Let it dry (less time than overnight) and sand again.

Step 10. Lightly wipe away dust with damp cloth

Step 11. Run your fingers over the trim with your optics closed

If you can feel anything, you'll be able to see information technology when yous're done. Re-putty if needed. Here'southward what a set-to-paint hole typically looks like. The edges of the mushroomed nail hole are sanded off, the putty is perfect with the wall, and your pre-painted board is pretty sanded.

how to fill nail holes in mdf trim mushroom

Step 12. Oil Primer

Put a thin layer of oil based primer over the puttied areas and exposed ends of MDF to seal it. Let dry out. The oil seals the exposed pressed fiberboard, else water-based paint will mushroom it once again.

Stride xiii. H2o-based paint

From hither, use your favorite method to get a perfectly straight wall-trim paint line. I did information technology with tape and a double-cut method since painter's record doesn't block paint perfectly, especially on textured walls.

Ex: Put painter's record on the wall at the seam. If your wall is red and trim white, pigment the border of the tape with carmine to seal the record. This will prevent the record from leaking when you pigment white on it (and every painter'south tape leaks, no thing how expert their marketing).

Paint the trim with ii coats of white, existence careful not to paint your newly refinished hardwood floor! Peel off the record while the 2nd coat is still wet. I plant it best to peel off the tape at a very sharp angle.