Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall? I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner. Advice, pro and con. Thanks Ivan Vegvary
Personally, I like to let the carpet guy do his thing. It seems the carpet is a better fit. I know you can do it either, but I always do the board last.
Just me.
Steve
I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.
so if baseboard goes first then do you raise it up a quarter inch or so?
If you do the carpet last, and it ever needs restretched, good luck!
There's a new power stretching tool on the market, my installer used it on mine last year. It doesn't go from wall to wall (possibly marring up the baseboard), can only be used if you have a wood subfloor. Anyways, pretty neat invention.
There shouldn't be any hump at the tack strip, unless someone is putting the tack strip on top of the pad!
OOPS! I mean if you do the baseboard last, good luck! I think they would have a hard time trying to restretch.
I've never had to try it, but I'd think a 6 foot level would make keeping the baseboard straight pretty easy.
Why is it harder to get the baseboard straight after the carpet is laid?
Always baseboard first. It is designed to trim the wall, not the carpet. You may want to change flooring later
Baseboard first. This is to make it better for the painter whether it is paint or stain and lacquer. The carpenter has a much better chance of fitting joints and keep the trim running in a straight line. The trim is usually set up on 3/4 blocks for a tall nap, 1/2 for commercial weave, to allow for tack strip and carpet.
Ivan:
The answer depends on what you mean by "baseboard".
Where you have a separate baseboard and shoe molding, then you would install the baseboards, then the carpet and then the shoe molding (if you choose to install shoe moldings).
The reason for that is because when you install carpet, you use a tool called a "wall trimmer" to cut the carpet about 1/2 an inch before the baseboard, depending on the size of the carpet, and then stretch the carpet the rest of the way to the baseboard. The wall trimmer needs to slide along a straight and preferably vertical surface, and often the bottom of the drywall will be an inch or so off the floor, and that can cause problems with the wall trimmer.
However the reason builders will typically install single piece baseboard first is that the wood trim (like baseboards and door casings and such) are generally the last thing to be done when building a house. So, in the interest of saving time and money, the builder is going to want his finish carpenters to put the baseboards in before they leave the job site. That's cuz if he calls the finish carpenters to come back to install the baseboards AFTER the carpet is installed, then he has to have the carpet cleaned cuz of all the sawdust tracked all over it.
But, really the bottom line is that if you have a smooth vertical surface along which you can slide your wall trimmer, you can slide it along a baseboard just as easily as sliding it along the drywall, so it really doesn't matter.
When I install carpets in my building, I stretch the carpet up to the baseboard and then install the shoe molding to cover the cut edge of the carpet.
The real reason is that the baseboard is part of the wall and it is used to finish of the wall. Carpet,if even installed, is merely decoration, not a part of the structure. Carpet can be changed at any time without interfering with the wall trim.Not every house will have carpets so the wall trim is done in proper fashion when the wall is built. If the owner decides to use no carpet or area rug, the trim is properly in place, as it should be.
Consider replacing either the bb or the carpet.....if carpet was laid first, you would then have to rip out the bb in order to replace or restretch the carpet.
Wouldn't the 'compression' to the carpet with that resultant depression collecting stuff lead towards a "How do you clean this?!" type problem?
You don't want the baseboard level, you want it parallel to the floor. The two are not necessarily the same thing.
Because it tends to float on top of the carpet. It's much easier to mount flat (or with appropriate shim) to the subfloor without the carpet in the way. The installer can cut up to the baseboard or tuck it under, depending.
Do you propose to remove the baseboard every time the carpet is changed?
Certainly no more than that. Ask the installer.
It's going to get compressed if it's tucked under the baseboard anyway.
Shouldn't be a problem. The tackless strips are an inch or so from the wall. Just restretch it and trim.
How much to raise it depends on thickness of finished surface so you end up w/ the proper exposed width. With the advent of narrower base than what generally used to be, can end up w/ a too-narrow-appearing baseboard when finished if not aware of the finished level.
As another says, however, be sure to run a line or at least check on how out of flat the subfloor actually is (another ndamhiktnftdt :) ).
no, don't ask me how i know to not forget to do that!
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