Bonding Wood baseboard to a plywood frame?

[Andrew Wayland]

I'm going to be putting some wood base-board trim (about 8" wide planks) to some cabinets I built.

I'd like to limit the appearance of nails: but I'm also concerned about the piece bowing with time.

Will finish nails be enough to hold the baseboard in place? Will the plywood offer enough bite for the nails over time?

or should I be looking into some sort of adhesive to help? (I could do construction adhesive, but I like the idea of something less permanent in case I want to refinish the baseboard...

[John Lankers]

I would set the nails at a slight angle for better bite, glue the miters / joints and fill the nail holes after finishing for best color match.
You're right, gluing the trim to the cabinets could potentially become a nightmare if they ever have to come off.

[Erik Christensen]

I would use a pin nailer - so small they do not need filling and you can disassemble without destroying things as often happens with finish nails

I have a lot of crown, window trim & baseboard in my house held with nothing but 21 guage pins into sheetrock and have yet to have any issues

[Andrew Wayland]

I guess I can always try at an angle and then if worse comes to worse I can bond with something else.

I too have plenty of trim tacked right into drywall, but they also tend to hit some of the wood in the window frames as well... Plus this is 3/4" thick hardwood vs 1/2 inch pine trim. I wasn't sure if the size of the wood baseboard I'm using would have any extra problems to consider!

[Wayne Lomman]

Wide hardwood baseboard can cup if not fastened firmly across its width. Finishing nails will do it fine provided you skew them. They will hold to plywood if it is thick enough, say half inch minimum. Only glue mitres.

For the record, baseboard over plasterboard is usually fixed to the studs, not just the plasterboard. If it was just fixed to the plasterboard, get a refund. Cheers

[Jim Bowers]

Screw from inside of cabinets. Also screws from inside near miters to hold tight. Size screws so they do not penetrate the baseboard

[Andrew Wayland]

Screw from inside of cabinets. Also screws from inside near miters to hold tight. Size screws so they do not penetrate the baseboard

Hmmm. Not a bad idea! I will have to find some inconspicuous screws, as they're open cabinets, but most should be hidden by the cabinet contents eventually.