Thanks for all your help, I am installing Allure Traffic master vinyl. The baseboard is a bit high and leave a space between the group and baseboard. I took the baseboard out (you can see the second picture) and i can easily caulk the end). I am not sure if that is good idea or not? what do you thin k please?
Thanks a lot Ps: the first picture shows the space between the floor and the baseboard a nd the second pictures shows the floor after removing the baseboard.
Or just re-install the existing baseboard lower, but that would require that the wall be painted. If it needs painting anyway, then it could be an option. Otherwise, as suggested get a wider baseboard. I can't understand how the baseboard was sitting up in the air to begin with?
Or put the baseboard back where it was and use a shoe along the front edge to hide the gap.
A "shoe" is just a thin piece of molding. In your case I would think smething 1/4 - 3/8 thick and 3/4 - 1 1/4 wide would be about right. You want it thin/narrow enough so that you can bend it down as needed to conform to any floor uneveness and to the baseboard. One nails them to the baseboard, NOT to the floor.
The downside to that is that the shoe needs to be finished. The color need not match the baseboard color, it could be some other color in the room. It could also be stained to a color similar to the floor. If you decide to use one, finish it before you install it, touch up afterward.
Agreed, the new floor looks great. You are doing a fine job and should be very proud of yourself.
The space between the old original floor and the baseboard looks as though the baseboard was installed after carpeting had been placed over the original floor. I would put the baseboard back exactly where it came from and then use quarter-round to finish off the floor/wall junction. Prepainting the quarter round will make life much easier. You are very impressive in what you are undertaking in fixing up your dwelling,and hopefully can pass on what you are learning to others in the future on this and orther websites.
Yes, I agree, that's the best idea. And maybe that's why there is a gap to begin with? There was one there before Otherwise how could you add the new flooring and have a gap?
As far as finishing, I recently replaced all the baseboard and quarter round in our living/dining room. I could not resist the synthetic stuff at the lumber place. You buy it white, you nail it on, fill the nail holes and you are done.
Other posters mention reusing the old base board. Sure, if it's intact and you want to save money go for it. I liked putting in brand new. This stuff isn't that expensive.
Thanks for all your help, I am installing Allure Traffic master vinyl. The baseboard is a bit high and leave a space between the group and baseboard. I took the baseboard out (you can see the second picture) and i can easily caulk the end). I am not sure if that is good idea or not? what do you think please?
Thanks a lot Ps: the first picture shows the space between the floor and the baseboard and the second pictures shows the floor after removing the baseboard.
Shoe gives a lot of flexibility, and you shouldn't worry about "conventions" if it looks good, which it always does if stained/painted right. When I had my floors refinished I replaced the painted baseboards and show with varnished oak - after the floors were refinished. So there was a varnish line on the floor under where the old shoe had been. The new shoe was about 1/2 x 3/4. Normally I would attach that with the 1/2 toward the floor, but the ugly varnish line was exposed doing that, so I flipped it with the 3/4 on the floor and that covered the varnish line. First thought I was screwed, but after seeing how it looked I liked it. Dresses the wall/floor line nicely. Might only be an issue if you want to get items right close to the wall, but that doesn't apply for me. There's no reason not to dress the wall/floor interface however you like it. Best to keep the shoe off the floor with a spacer as you nail it to the baseboard. Too tight to the floor can cause buckling over time as walls/floors shift a bit. Think 1/8" is about right, or 3/16" if you want to play it safe. I just laid it on the floor because I don't want a gap, so pick your poison. Shoe can easily be redone anyway.
I am not exactly sure what you are asking regarding the baseboard.
You wrote..., "I took the baseboard out and I can easily caulk the end. I am not sure if that is good idea or not?"
If you mean eliminating the baseboard altogether and just caulking where the new floor meets the wall, -- that's one option, but it tends to not look very good. Plus, you would need to patch and repaint where the old baseboard along the wall.
It would be better to either put the old baseboard back up (if it is in good shape) or add new baseboard. Others here have suggested some possibilities along those lines. If whatever you do involves having to repaint at least along the bottom part of the wall in the area of the baseboard, you could try going to Home Depot with a same of the wall color and see if the can color-match it. They sell sample color-matched paint in a small jar for about $3.00 if you want to test the color to see if it really matches.
Or, as others have said, maybe you can put up new baseboard that is high enough to go from the new floor up and cover the whole area that the old baseboard covered. That would eliminate having to patch or repaint the wall at the bottom.
Here is one example of a type of inexpensive baseboard that may be high enough to cover the old baseboard area:
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It is cheap stuff -- fiberboard -- but it may be good enough for what you want. You can also look and see whatever else they may have and how high up it comes above the floor.
baseboard is a bit high and leave a space between the group and baseboard. I took the baseboard out (you can see the second picture) and i can easily caulk the end). I am not sure if that is good idea or not? what do you think please?
the second pictures shows the floor after removing the baseboard.
I like caulk along baseboard for two reasons: hides the gap and prevents spills or pipe leaks from damaging innards of the wall or peeling paint from baseboard. I would use either paintable caulk(and paint to match the baseboard) or a colored caulk color of flooring. If the gap is EVEN along the wall, then painting the color of bb won't make a wavy line. If UNEVEN, then the gap will match flooring closely and follow straight line along bottom of baseboard.
My parents' new home had clear silicone along all of the baseboards, but it was shiny so it "showed" along tile floors. If caulking along tile, I used masking tape to keep caulk from oozing into the grout lines. We has a hose burst in laundry room (first floor, slab), which fortunately happened while we were at home....caulking kept water from flowing under walls into our carpeted bedrooms. I like caulking along kit. and bath cabinet bases and inside sink cabinets...bound to be leaks someday and might prevent damage to particle board cabinets, which are pretty ruined if the get wet.
The baseboard is a bit high and leave a space between the group and baseboa rd. I took the baseboard out (you can see the second picture) and i can eas ily caulk the end). I am not sure if that is good idea or not? what do you think please?
rd and the second pictures shows the floor after removing the baseboard.
1 - Did you look at the pic that shows the size of the gap between the baseboard and the floor? It's huge.
2 - Do you realize the flooring product she used floats, it will expand/contract and it's almost certainly not supposed to be fastened to anything?
I agree that the size of the gap shown in the first photo (
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) is large, although it is less on the left side of the photo where the new flooring is already installed.
The second photo (
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) shows that the OP ahas already removed the baseboard, so I guess the amount of the original gap at this point may no longer matter -- unless, of course, she tries to replace the old trim where it was so she doesn't have to fix the paint job on the wall. But, that seems like a bad plan anyway. One option would have been to leave the original baseboard in place, put down the new flooring so it went under the baseboard, and then add shoe molding or quarter-round to the bottom of the original baseboard.
In looking at the second photo, and the differences in the color of the wall paint where the baseboard has been removed, I wonder what happened in the past to create such a large gap under the baseboard that was there. Maybe one possibility is that there used to be 3/4-inch hardwood or something of similar thickness in the room. And, maybe someone removed the 3/4-inch flooring (maybe due to cat urine issues or just a damaged original floor) -- without removing the original baseboard -- and then put down the thinner laminate flooring that she is now covering up. If that happened in the past, maybe that would explain the gap and why the wall colors are different where the old baseboard was.
Also, if that is what happened in the past, the doors etc. are probably already high enough so that installing the new flooring that the OP is now doing will not require trimming the existing doors due to the added height of the floor.
My guess is that you already finished putting it down and you are now figuring out the caulking/baseboard question.
There is one aspect of the job that I am not completely sure about. It has to do with whether it would be better to leave a small gap around the perimeter of the room -- maybe 1/4-inch between the end of the flooring and the wall.
I would have to research the Allure manufacturer's installation instructions to know for sure if that is recommended or not. I thought I saw somewhere that the Allure TrafficMaster Vinyl Flooring product that you are using doesn't expand and contract (because it does not absorb moisture), so maybe no gap is needed. But, maybe it could expand/contract a little due to temperature changes.
My point is that if a small gap is recommended, and if you haven't put any baseboard back down along the perimeter, it may be possible to trim off a
1/4-inch along the perimeter with a sharp utility knife. I honestly don't know if this is needed or recommended with this product, but I thought that I should mention it just in case.
Do not use caulk. There are two standard ways of fixing a space at floor level:
1 Remove the baseboard and replace it flush (with no gap.)
Add "quarter-round" i.e. special moulding (sold at lumber yards, between 3/4 inches and 1.5 inches high) to block the gap.
#2 is easier and neater. You can paint the quarter round before fastening it in place. Use "finishing nails" with a very small hammer, and as few nails as possible. Leave the nail heads protruding one millimetre, and then "set" them flush with a nail set tool. This avoids denting the wood with misaimed hammer blows.
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