# Window & Door Trim, Dealing with a Gap
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Tags:** tools-electric-diy
**Created:** [February 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087 "2025-02-09T16:20:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/1 "2025-02-09T16:20:50Z")
Hi Folks
I’m redoing a room, and the plasterers left all the walls 1/16 to 1/4 proud of the windows and doors. So as I go to hang the moldings I have to deal with this. If I pull them tight in the window frame the gap just transfers to the back side of the moldings.
I’ve hung plenty of moldings in my day, but I’ve never had to deal with such a large gap.
I’m looking for suggestions. I could hang them and fill the gap with caulk, but some are maybe a bit big for that and I’m worried it will look like shit. If I do that, I have a choice whether to have the gap on the window side or the back side, and I’m thinking it will be less noticeable on the back.
I could also rip shims on the table saw, but that will be a lot of work and the thickness of the gap isn’t always consistent, so I don’t know how well it will work.
(I was really happy with the plaster job until I realized this)
Thoughts and suggestions?
(My only other house was built in 1987, and whenever someone says of this house “They don’t build them like the used to” I want to strangle them. Trust me, there’s plenty of hackery in this house, and everything in the 1987 house was square and plumb)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/2 "2025-02-09T16:23:31Z")
This thread from yesterday is but a small variation on your theme. You might find some inspiration there.
> [@Fixing gap between baseboard molding and floor](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fixing-gap-between-baseboard-molding-and-floor/1014061):
>
> Our living room floor was replaced at some point. The laminate flooring is clearly lower than the original by 1/8-1/4 inch. Even though the floor is insulated in the crawlspace, there’s a draft. The previous folks had stuffed a line of weatherstripping in between, which looked terrible. We’d like to find a different strategy that is still easy to remove so that if we replace this laminate flooring, we’ll be able to retain our molding. We are nominally handy, but have no equipment. I’ve looked on…
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### Author:  [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/3 "2025-02-09T17:07:56Z")
> [@OldOlds](#):
>
> If I pull them tight in the window frame the gap just transfers to the back side of the moldings.
When you pull them tight to the frame, doesn’t this make the molding tilted against the wall? I’m visualizing the inside edge of the molding having to dip inside the drywall edge to touch the window frame, which means the flat molding would be sloped inwards towards the window. If so, I would think that might look odd. In addition, it would make mitering the corners challenging. You couldn’t just do a perpendicular 45 degree cut straight down. You’d have to account for the molding being slanted (kind of like crown molding). I would think it’d be best to have to have the molding flat against the wall and deal with any gaps between the molding and the door/window frame.
Since the gaps are large, if you fill them with a backing strip, the caulk may end up looking okay. Once it’s all painted, most people won’t be looking at it that closely.
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### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/4 "2025-02-09T17:43:19Z")
> [@filmore](#):
>
> it would make mitering the corners challenging. You couldn’t just do a perpendicular 45 degree cut straight down. You’d have to account for the molding being slanted (kind of like crown molding).
This is true. The easiest way to deal with that, by the way, is to prop the back side of the molding up on the miter saw with something the same size as the lean. So, for instance, if you’re accounting for a 1/8 “dip in,” put a 1/8" drill bit right where the saw’s fence meets the base. That will tilt the workpiece and account for the compound miter angle.
Of course, that does nothing to eliminate the gap on the “back” side of the molding.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/5 "2025-02-09T18:18:24Z")
One way is to install the trim flat against the wall so the gap is on the window side. Then use drywall compound in the gap. It is easy to sand smooth using the jam and the trim as a sanding guide. This looks much better than caulk.
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### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/6 "2025-02-09T18:23:14Z")
I hadn’t thought of using joint compound. That’s a good idea.
That would also more easily accommodate the fact that some of the gaps are thinner at one end than the other.
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### Author:  [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/7 "2025-02-14T16:45:40Z")
Hey, just wanted to let you know the joint compound worked great. I pushed as much as I could into the gap and then smoothed it with a damp cloth. You really can’t tell that anything is off, and it isn’t even painted yet. It did shrink quite a bit when it dried, so needed a second go, but it really does look perfect.
Thanks for the idea.
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### Author:  [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/window-door-trim-dealing-with-a-gap/1014087/8 "2025-02-19T01:40:45Z")
Sorry - didn’t see this thread earlier.
This issue is a basic fact of finish carpentry. Its one of the first things you learn to cope with as a trainee/apprentice. Square, level, and 90 degree corners are hypothetical ideals in wood frame construction.
Installing the trim flush to the wall and filling the gap is one solution, glad it worked.
Quite often we bevel the offending drywall with a knife or even crush it with a hammer. Carpenters use compound miter saws and we cut miters to whatever they need to be to get a tight joint. The standard for paint grade finishing is to get it to a 1/16" gap, and the painter takes it from there. Sometimes you do have to fill, but it is generally seen as last resort.
On thicker trim we may even rabbet the back of the trim to make it fit, or build out with additional material. Most mouldings have the middle already shaped out on the back to help accommodate this very issue.