Construction: corner joints of walls

[klaviergoddess]

I'm assembling the interior walls of my first build. Last night I glued walls together for the first time. I believe I got a good solid bond. Seems strong! Because there was no way to clamp the wall to the floor while gluing (I used masking tape), there are very small cracks here and there in the joints (corners) where the walls meet and where the walls meet the floor. How concerned should I be about this? Should they be filled with wood filler, more glue, ignored and papered over, or covered with baseboards and crown molding? What do you think? In a real house this is where the caulk would go.

Edited October 14, 2012 by klaviergoddess

[fov]

Don't worry about the cracks, just find ways to cover them up (like you said, with wallpaper, baseboards, crown molding). If cracks are visible from the outside you can use wood filler, or can cover them with corner trim. Or, if you are adding siding, this will cover them up.

This is common in die-cut houses, it's not because of anything you did wrong. Most of the nicely finished houses in the galleries here probably have some cracks and imperfect joints hidden under the wallpaper and trim!

[havanaholly]

I'm assembling the interior walls of my first build. Last night I glued walls together for the first time. I believe I got a good solid bond. Seems strong! Because there was no way to clamp the wall to the floor while gluing (I used masking tape), there are very small cracks here and there in the joints (corners) where the walls meet and where the walls meet the floor. How concerned should I be about this? Should they be filled with wood filler, more glue, ignored and papered over, or covered with baseboards and crown molding? What do you think? In a real house this is where the caulk would go.

You don't mention which house you are building. In addition to gluing the walls together (with wood glue; please, if you're building a Greenleaf or Corona Concepts kit, don't use hot glue, regardless of what the instructions read) I also tape them and pop a couple of heavy duty staples along the join. Then I pop in the second floor (somewhere during the wall assembly) and also use tape and staples to hold that in place whilst the glue dries. This also allows me to set a stack of nice, heavy books along the second floor to hold the walls firmly against the foundation.

Spackling compound will also fill any gaps...

[klaviergoddess]

Building the Beacon Hill. Do you remove the staples after the glue dries Holly or leave them in? Thanks for your reply.

[klaviergoddess]

I used Gorilla wood glue.

[Dalesq]

I like to go back and run another bead of glue along seems, roof joins, etc to help firm up the bonds. Then paper, trim, etc. covers any imperfections!

[havanaholly]

I leave the staples in and cover them up with whatever external treatment I use on the house; at least a light coat of spackle.

[Gonzo]

I also use Gorilla glue. All of the ideas above are good. Sometimes I run another bead of glue along the joint and use a toothpick to fill the gaps. These walls are rarely flat and straight if the kit has been around for a while.

I would also suggest getting a rafter square or something similar (see link below). You can pick them up for a couple of bucks at Harbor Freight Tools or a hardware store. It helps me keep my walls square as I assemble them. You might also look for corner clamps to help you out.

http://www.harborfreight.com/aluminum-rafter-angle-square-7718.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-inch-corner-clamp-1852.html

[klaviergoddess]

Great tip and links Gonzo. Thanks a million. I didn't know about the corner clamps. That's just what I need.

[havanaholly]

I have corner clamps, I find they're great for furniture, but walls not so much.

[Gonzo]

I have corner clamps, I find they're great for furniture, but walls not so much.

If you place them right and have the right clamps, they are great for walls. I use them in my other woodworking a lot. I just recently started using them on DH builds. They don't have to be super tight, just tight enough to help the glue set.

[klaviergoddess]

Looks like there is more than one way to skin a cat. I'm going to pick up the corner clamps, since they aren't expensive, and give it a try. Right now I have no way to hold the corners steady so I'd like to give it a shot. I imagine adding staples will also make a world of difference. Thanks for the tips.

Speaking of glueing . . . do either of you use a syringe to dispense a tiny amount bead of glue or do you prefer the toothpick method? I ended up smearing on a medium size bead, smoothing it into the cracks with my finger, and then wiping off the excess with a damp cloth. Wasted a lot of glue but it did seem to work.

[Dalesq]

I use a lot of glue and buy it in the gallon economy size and decant it into small recycled glue bottles for easier application. That way you can get a finer bead. But I'm generous in my use of glue on the houses. With furniture I use a toothpick for the smallest amount needed for the piece.

[WyckedWood]

Heather, I do it just like you did it...just checking to see if you have the link to the More Minis blog, I dont know if thats been recommended to you yet. More Minis is a member here and she has detailed her builds into an extremely detailed step by step, helpful guide. This is the link to her Beacon Hill build. Its worth spending some time and reading this,it helped me out a lot when I was starting my build. http://moreminis.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-first-beacon-hill-day-1.html

[WyckedWood]

This is a thread that we started a few years ago, when it seemed like everyone was building a Beacon Hill at once lol, you might enjoy reading over it while youre waiting for the glue to dry;) http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20947&hl=%2Bshout+%2Bbeacon+%2Bbuilders&fromsearch=1

[klaviergoddess]

GREAT ideas Debora and Karin! Will definitely check out the blog. I can't believe I didn't think about transferring some glue to a small dispenser. Sometimes the most simple and obvious solutions manage to be evasive. Here I was trying to suck glue from a spoon into a syringe. LOL!

[havanaholly]

I dribble a small puddle of glue onto a piece of waxed paper and dip my toothpick into the puddle to apply the glue. When I finish for the day there's not much glue left to dry, and I can peel it off the waxed paper next time and go again.

[Gonzo]

Heather...I buy big bottles of glue and do what Debora does. I put small amounts in a glue bottle system that bought that has exchangeable tips. There is a syringe-like tip that is good enough for walls, but not furniture. I have a smaller syringe with different tips for smaller items.

The Beacon Hill threads are great. Be sure to take a look.

[klaviergoddess]

All righty then, I've got a rafter square, an itty bitty glue dispenser, and a corner clamp. Now all I need is for my day job to go away so I can play with my dollhouse.

[Dalesq]

I dribble a small puddle of glue onto a piece of waxed paper and dip my toothpick into the puddle to apply the glue. When I finish for the day there's not much glue left to dry, and I can peel it off the waxed paper next time and go again.

I use parchment paper! Almost nothing sticks to it, except silicone products (like my mold putty). You can use it over and over again, like Holly's wax paper.

[havanaholly]

I did not know that! And here I've been using my parchment paper to bake fish fillets...

[Dalesq]

Fish filets and cookies don't stick to it either!!!!

: )

[havanaholly]

I knew meringues didn't stick to parchment, nice to know other cookies don't, either.

[klaviergoddess]

Stop! You're all making me hungry!

[havanaholly]

You're the one who started it all!