Baseboard height?

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Our whole first floor, except for the kitchen and half-bath, was carpeted, with the carpet installed between the baseboards, as is the custom. We have replaced that carpet in most rooms by bamboo -- after removing the 3 1/2" high baseboards. In the areas where we installed the bamboo a few years ago, we just put the baseboards back over the bamboo and without base shoe molding. Now we have just laid bamboo in one more room and are wondering whether it would be better to rip the baseboards down so that they still extend up the wall by the same amount as before

-- and to redo the baseboards in the other rooms with bamboo flooring as well.

Perce

[gpsman]

They would match, room to room, conventionally speaking.

It's not a law. -----

- gpsman

[EXT]

I personally don't like the cheap look of short baseboards (builders like it because it is cheap to buy). When our kitchen floor was redone, I glued an additional 1" to the bottom of the baseboards to give it a little more height, and they look good. They are painted and the "door stop" that I use instead of base shoe molding covers any seam that may be visible.

I would not rip a 3 1/2" baseboard any shorter, they are already undersize in my mind.

[HeyBub]

It's a matter of personal preference; my baseboards are mostly 7". In my bathrooms, for example, I made "baseboards" out of cut flooring tile. So whatever looks good to you. You might browse through an "Architectural Digest," or similar, magazine and note what's used in good looking rooms.

You can get baseboards of almost any height, but you may have to visit a millwork's shop. What little 7" baseboards the box stores have is pretty pricy (i.e., $1.90/ft).

Note: If you have bamboo laminate, ripping it will quickly dull your saw blade inasmuch as most laminate is coated with aluminum silicate or similar - very tough stuff.

[Vic Smith]

Yep, use what height looks good to you. And it's not the "custom" to have carpet under the base. Base shouldn't have to be removed because you change floor coverings. But that's also personal choice.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The baseboards are just pine. The few bamboo boards we've cut don't seem to have had any adverse effect on the carbide-tipped blades of the miter saw or table saw..

And I've realized that an alternative would be to extend vertically the baseboard in the room that still has carpet so that they match the new height of the baseboard that is now on top of the bamboo flooring.

Perce

[Jules Richardson]

At least from the likes of HD, I don't think it's even that cheap to buy

- it's not as though it's particularly good quality material or that there's really that much of it (given the height and thickness).

I want to re-do all of ours at something like 3/4" thick and 5-6" high - but every single room in our house has these horrible textured walls which I'd love to get rid of, and then at that point it makes sense to replace all the 60 year old wiring too... :-)