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baseboard and quarter round

16 years ago

We are (yeah) going into drywall this week. So, I'm getting things together for finishing! We are using 3/4" prefinished wood in the entire main floor except for family room and the Master Bedroom. Tile will be in the mud room, kaundry room and master bath. Our finish carpenter said he would do the baseboards 1st, have us pain them and then he will do the floors. He says he is custom to putting the round trim everywhere (is that called quarter round?). I first thought it only went where there is hardwood, but have since seen it with tile too. And is this "normal" in carpet areas? Also, what do you prefer with painted boards. The quarter round to be painted to match the baseboards or stained to match the floors? If it is stained to match boards, is it then acceptable to paint it in areas for tile and carpet? Also is there a problem with the differemt heighs of the different floors? I'm sure that is one reason he wants to put it everywhere...to gisguise the variations in floor heights. Plesae share what you have done in your home.

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Comments (3)

mjjones453
16 years ago
I just had hardwood floors installed in my living, family, kitchen foyers,hallway, and ceramic tiles installed in my bathroom. My flooring is a medium hickory, the baseboards are a dark walnut. In the areas that they tore out the carpet there was no quarter round at all. In the areas that received the Hardwood floor, quarter round was added, the ceramic tile also had it. I and my flooring contractor believe that it is best that the quarter round matches the baseboard. I would have it match the base boards in all rooms. If it is painted, then painted it. If I am right, I believe that the quarter round is to cover the small void of wood/ceramic left by the wall for expansion. With carpeting the tack strip was up next to the wall, the quarter round is not necessary, but may give a uniform look to all the areas. Best wishes as you finish your home! Mary
california_dreamer
16 years ago
Hmmm .. .
I too am installing new floors throughout my house (wood, tile, carpet). i am no expert, but this is the information I received from my contractor-
Since it is new install, my contractor said he would lay the wood & tile first, then install the baseboards. This way, no quarter round will be needed. In the carpeted areas, they install the baseboards first and then tuck the carpet under them when they install it. No quarter round is needed with carpet.
In my previous home, we installed wood with the existing baseboards so they added the quarter round to cover the small gap. We painted the quarter round to match the baseboards.
I prefer the clean look of no quarter round but I am sure it is just personal preference.
Good Luck!
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Thanks, Jerry, you are right they could and should have scribed. My sense is that not many people do that any more. Sigh. Maybe I will just do as you say and have them put the shoe mould, darn I thought I was being so smart avoiding that! If I really didn't want shoe, would you say just leave it with a few gaps, or let the painter put a very thin bead of caulking?
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Appreciate the responses. Do I need to worry about adequate expansion room for the new hardwood if I don't remove the existing baseboards and just use shoe molding? We had the house built 20 years ago and the hardwood and carpets were installed underneath the 4.5 inch baseboards. I really don't care to lose a portion of the height of my baseboards by using quarter round or shoe molding. This would result in a "mismatched" look when compared to the baseboards in my other rooms. My preference is to have the baseboards removed prior to the new floor installation. I just have to decide if it makes more sense to try to preserve the original baseboards for re-installation or have new baseboards installed and painted. Here are some pics of the trim and baseboards in the 2 rooms that will have hardwood installed. Both rooms were recently painted, but I don't mind repainting baseboards as long as I get the best quality installation of the new floors and baseboards that look like these again when done. Dining Room Great Room
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Do you live in my house? :-). We have and 1876 home with newer addition for kitchen, large ornate baseboards, etc. Your baseboards are beautiful! I think the baseboard without the quarter round looks more formal and polished, and that's how we left ours in the older part of the house. It just looks, to me, more well-crafted to not have QR. In my experience, QR is used to hide a gap between the floor and the baseboard, and I would not add it unless it was necessary. That said, the view with the QR looks quite nice and kind of repeats the large bead detail (if that's what it's called) at the top of the baseboard. Also, since it will be in the newer part of the house you might not mind an informal look. If you do add QR, consider whether it matches up well with the thickness of the door casings. We had to add it to the upstairs rooms, where the floor had been carpeted and we took it down to the original wood. We had to choose between a beefier QR that complemented the baseboard or a smaller one that met up evenly with the door casings. We went with the larger QR, and it's a little proud of the door casings, but we just chalk that up to 'character'.
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Is that a 1"+ thick kind of paver/tile? If so, there's no perfect answer; the tiles vary, and are never set to a perfect line at the perimeter, so it's always a low-down dirty job to scribe the woodwork to it, but it's IMO uglier to grout up to already-placed baseboard. Casey
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jscozz
16 years ago
Even in new installations quarter sound (or show moulding) is often used since the baseboard rarely sits even with the floor everywhere... slight variations in floor height can be noticed as gaps under the baseboard... shoe moulding will conform to teh floor where teh baseboard will conform to the wall.

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