Choose Between Mitered and Coped Baseboard Inside Corners

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Figuring out the final length of baseboard requires a few more decisions than just the length of the wall. One major choice is deciding between mitered and coped baseboard inside corners.

First, let’s define each cut.

Miter

In simplified terms a miter cut is a baseboard or crown length cut at a 45 degree angle, as you can see on the left side of the photo above.

Cope

A coped cut is a detailed cut following the shape of the curved trim, displayed on the right side of the photo.

The beauty of a mitered cut is it is simple. It is easy to measure out the length of baseboard: a 45 degree mitered inside corner is actually the same length as the walls you just measured. It is, admittedly, an almost brain dead calculation.

A miter is also simple to cut–if the corner is a perfect 90 degrees. However, walls are not straight as is often the case. Second, as much as I love my DeWALT chop saw and I am sure it cuts accurate 45 degrees, my alignment skills of a 12 foot board could possibly make a 45 degree angle not quite 45 degrees. Third, these two little imperfections in an imperfect world have the potential of creating a gappy corner. As refined as my caulking skills are, caulk is an extra step and if there is enough gap you’ll still see a divot from the caulk shrinking when you look at it from any direction.

When the corner is not 90 degrees you can use a protractor to determine the actual angle of each inside corner. Then you can adjust one of the angles to be smaller or larger than 45° to exactly match the out of square corner. Alternately, you could sand it down once you get it in place but an essentially 45 degree cut surface is a pretty big area to sand down.

Compare sanding a little of this down…

…against the leading edge of a coped cut.

Meanwhile, a coped corner is super easy one one side: it is a butt joint against the wall. However, the adjacent perpendicular baseboard must be perfectly matched against the curves of your chosen baseboard.

This form fitting requires the use of a miter saw or a jigsaw and then follow on refinements with files, a dremel and/or sandpaper. A mitered cut actually goes backwards at a small angle so that the meeting point of the joint against the other butted side is an easy to adjust exact match of the detailed curve. For more on how to create a professional coped edge check out the last post.

Which is right for you?

There is no getting around it: coping is a hell of a lot more work than a miter cut. With a coped cut you have to lovingly follow the line you trace on each and every inside corner. A miter only requires a nanosecond dip of the miter saw blade in comparison.

That being said, coping is a perfect fit and is absolutely necessary on stained baseboard where you can’t use caulk and paint to correct imperfections. At least there is a chance to have a better joint and it will always look good from one side of the room.

It is much easier to cut a little sliver out on a coped edge versus a mitered edge because there is less material to remove on the front edge. Small adjustments are easily made in comparison to a miter cut.

If you are concerned about the quality of your initial attempts you can start on your closets first. Next, if you opt for mitered corners, you can intentionally place the easy to install butt joint on the far side*. This ensures the corner joints look excellent from the perspective you are guaranteed to see when you enter a room.

*Tradesmen often work from right to left around a room if they are right handed. Likewise, they go from left to right if they are left handed. However, I’m not a tradesman and I went for what angle is less noticeable. This also helped me minimize my baseboard usage which I’ll dive into in the next post.