Hi Jennifer,

So sorry you are dealing with this kind of stress! Your gut instinct is absolutely right - the trim guy did not do a good job and it has nothing to do with the floors and walls not being straight. Nothing is ever straight in a house(!) and it sounds like your other contractor knows and understands that. The trim guy’s angles don’t match on the corners and those should match up - you won’t be able to properly disguise that with caulk. Sure they could fill it in with wood filler or bondo and sand it down but it’s more likely to crack and always be a nuisance.

Can you get a partial refund and have a more skilled trim guy do it - maybe recommended from your other contractor? You could certainly have the original trim guy redo it - and maybe I’d start there. Some times it’s best to cut ties and get a more competent person in there - I’m sure you’ll know the best path for you.

Hoping you get this resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible!

Thanks Renee! Our kitchen contractor said he would do it (for money obviously!) and I’m sure we could work something out with our trim guy on money owed. I’d like to cut ties now. He is our neighbor and we were giving him this work to be nice (and because we felt he was competent - he owns a remodeling company and is very busy). Cutting ties will be awkward but I think the alternative (fighting about this) could be worse! If he thinks this is acceptable AT ALL, best to just agree to disagree and move on. Eeeek. It is so stressful. Last thing anyone needs.

Hi Jennifer,

I'm with Renee. It looks like in the first photo your guy didn't do a very good job of coping the inside joint. I only learned to do it a few years ago, and it is definitely a challenge. But if this guy is a pro, he should know how to do this.

On the second and third I'm struck by what looks like cutting the pieces too short...the joint angles on both pieces look fine and that they would match if the pieces themself were long enough. Again, a pro should be able to measure!

Where the top of the baseboard meets the wall, that's a different story. As Renee said, no house is perfectly square, so it won't match perfectly tight. In an older home, I would totally expect to see this prior to him caulking it off and closing that up.

For what it is worth, that's my opinion. While I don't do this for a living, I do woodworking and DIY, and work with Habitat for Humanity to build houses. We wouldn't accept this in our homes, which is why we don't use volunteers to do the trim work--we want it to look good! I and the general contractor, and one of his sons who is a finish carpenter, always do this kind of work to get the results we want. Not trying to brag, just giving you some background on me so that you can judge whether my opinion is worth considering! LOL

Good luck! Hopefully you can get out of this without having a breakdown in the relationship with your neighbor!

Thank you Ken! Appreciate the feed back. And I agree about the top of the baseboard. I’m more concerned with the corners.

Apparently, the trim guy is not a seasoned and experienced professional. I wouldn’t pay him because he didn’t do the job he was hired to do.

I could do better and I suck at it.

Hackery. Awful.

Your finish carpenter needs a coping saw to get that first one right, and a better measuring tape for the second two. That’s not good work. Old houses are seldom plumb and level, he’s right, but that’s no excuse; his work will require gobs of caulk and even then paint won’t hide gobs of caulk. Not acceptable. He’s probably not a true finish carpenter.

My husband has trimmed out 3-4 of our houses and I caulk joints that look like that. They look pretty darn good after caulk and paint. Go to a model home or a new spec home in your price range and look closely at the trim. If it has spots with caulk gaps that big (and it likely will) then that is the level of craftsmanship you get in your area, unless you paid a lot. It just looks bad because it isn’t the finished product...IMO.