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Remove Baseboards or Use Quarter Round for New Hardwood Install?

14 years ago

We are in the process of getting bids for new hardwood install and also refinishing of existing hardwood. The Great Room and Dining Room which are currently carpeted will have new hardwood installation. These rooms have newly painted wood trim and baseboards.

One flooring company was recommending careful removal of our painted baseboards in these rooms and then reinstall the baseboards after new floor is installed, with paint touch up, fill and recaulking as needed.

The other two flooring companies refuse to remove the baseboards but want to install quarter round or shoe molding on top the newly installed hardwood. They state baseboards will need to be repainted by us.

None of my other rooms with existing hardwood have quarter round molding at baseboards so the 2 new installed rooms will not match in style if we go that route.

Is removing the existing baseboards and reinstalling on top the new hardwood not the standard? Why such resistance from the 2 companies?

This is going to be a large flooring project with 1000 sq ft existing hardwood refinished and 800 sq ft new hardwood installation. Shouldn't the baseboards be removed for the best finished result?

Featured Answer

millworkman

6 years ago

Darryl Touchet, 9 year old post, why dig it up?

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Comments (9)

glennsfc
14 years ago
Why? The answer is obvious to anyone in the flooring business. It takes much more time and careful 'expertise' to remove existing baseboard and reinstall and touch it up versus fitting and installing simple shoe molding. The two companies that are resisting removing the baseboards probably want to make the most money they can realize when doing your job or don't have the skilled labor to remove and reinstall the baseboards.

There is no 'standard' on how baseboard and trim should be part of a hardwood floor job. Sometimes the decision on whether to just use baseboard or add the shoe molding comes down to simple aesthetics...i.e., which 'looks' best to your eye and works with the architectural details and the decorating styles in the home.
jeri
14 years ago
I (intensely) dislike the look of shoe molding. I hope I do not offend anyone who likes this look, but I canÂt imagine going through this kind of expense and ending up with a look I didnÂt like.

What do you like?

You mentioned that the other rooms in your home do not have the shoe molding. If you like this look, you can always add it there. If you donÂt like this look, make sure that all bids include the extra work to give you what you want.

My 2 cents. :-)

Jeri
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lmalm53
Original Author
14 years ago
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
susanlynn2012
14 years ago
lmal53, if I would have had such nice big beautiful baseboard molding as you do with the carpets placed underneath, I would have not had to remove the molding and just had the wood installed. My carpets were on top of a 3" molding and if I did not remove the molding, less than 2" would be seen after the shoe molding was placed on it.

I would just remove the carpet and see if you need any shoe molding since your baseboards are on top of the carpet.
floorguy
14 years ago
I give both options when new flooring is going in. R&R base molding is very tedious, especially if it is that MDF junk... forget it!!! Taller base doesn't look bad with quarter round. It actually enhances it. It does look bad with short base moldings.

I will be the first to tell you, I'm no painter. I totally suck at caulking and painting, probably because I hate it so much I try to rush it. So, I will install it, but it is up to my clients to paint it, hire there own painter or pay my mark-up on the painter I subcontract it out to, so it is done right.
Darryl Touchet
6 years ago
remove remove remove. Its more work, but you will be better off in the end, especially if you are installing the floor during warmer and wetter months. Also make sure to undercut the thresholds. what is gonna happen is that when the hardwood shrinks, if you were right up to the edge of the quarter round when you left the gap, you will now see a gap. Not to mention if its a floating floor, it could shift a bit after walking on it. Around the threshold, depending of the span of the floor, you will get a buckle, cause the ONLY way to give a professional looking cut there, is to actually put it under the threshold or cut it to butt right up against it. Don't believe me? Ask a professional installer to install it outside the floorboard and write up a guarantee that there won't be any gaps between the shoe molding and floor for 5 years. I bet they won't.
Gina Kokkonen
6 years ago
All good points Darryl, thank you for reviving this thread! Unless it's new construction remove that baseboard unless like floorguy says above if you have some nice taller molding it blends well.
Scott Avis
5 years ago
Why not use a Dremel US40 Ultrasaw and cut the bottom off? There’s a good YouTube video on it. The video shows them putting a quarter round on at the end - but I can’t imagine why.

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