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can i use shoe molding without baseboard?

13 years ago

Hi, everyone. I'm using subway tile on the backsplash and walls in my kitchen, and I'm having the tile extend all the way down to the porcelain tile floor. Is it possible to use shoe molding without using regular baseboard? I'd like to have something that can cover the part where the tile meets the floor, but I don't want big baseboard. I was hoping using just shoe molding by itself would be possible.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

live_wire_oak
13 years ago
I'd use sanded caulk in the color of either your wall or floor tile's grout. Shoe mold would be an inappropriate and odd look for a tile/tile transition.
pence
13 years ago
yes that should be fine and you may noteven need that depending on how it ends up looking
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In another thread there has been quite the controversy about this very issue: How to have the wall tile meet the floor tile. There are really only two options (wood not being one of them): cove (sanitary) tile versus just caulking the joint between the floor and wall. Cove moulding is generally more commercial looking but by the nature of its construction would be easier to clean (just like a coved backsplash is easier to clean than that 90 degree joint between countertop and wall). However, your choices will most likely be limited as not all tile collection include a cove piece. It's just not used all that often. Experts suggest that if you simply meet the wall tile to the floor tile, that joint must be caulked. For more information on that method, ask the tile expert here on the forum, Bill Vincent. That is his preferred method. I am doing this very thing in our laundry room in a few months and I have still not decided what I want to do. If it is cove, that piece will be installed first and then the floor and wall tile abutted to it (no cove on top of any other tile). If I find a tile I cannot live without, however, I'll choose Bill's preferred method and have the installer caulk that seam. In any event, I'll ask my installer to make sure the floor and wall are watertight as there is no guarantee my washer one day won't leak.
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You're great, Bill. My darling contractors are great, too, but in other areas, not this one. They couldn't imagine not doing shoemold to the point that they literally didn't understand my earnest confirmations (I thought) that it wouldn't be used and put it everywhere. And I had to to let them because the hardwood only came up to somewhere near the baseboards. Oh, well. I tell myself it's a true traditional look.
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Like Johnson Flooring Co said, I don't see a problem mixing if they are painted. Of course MDF should be primed and painted anyways so I assume that's your plan. Is the baseboard and shoe all new, or is the baseboard pre-existing? The only thing I can think of is if you're painting pre-existing baseboards that are oak and have a defined grain, then the MDF will appear smoother, but perhaps even then not a huge deal.
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I HEAR you! I feel your pain. I just said to a design pal of mine, regarding the general laissez faire mentality in which the entire country ( and also my industry!! ) seems to be suffering/ short version: Remember the infamous JFK ? "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" My version: Tell you what....: ) Everyone please get off your dead ass if you are capable of doing just about anything. Start doing the most , not the least , at whatever endeavor that may be. Get your panties up, Drive your own destiny and stop using a virus, or anything other than genuine disability as an excuse to langush.. or WORSE? TO ASSUME THERE IS SO MUCH TO GO AROUND THAT.........THE WORK WILL LAST FOREVER. Trust me............................it. will. not.
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marcolo
13 years ago
Your shoe molding would be a baseboard, and an inappropriately short one at that. I second the motion for a straight tile/caulk/tile transition. You would use caulk because it will flex with the motion of two planes--wall and floor--that come together. Grout would crack.
Circus Peanut
13 years ago
If you haven't done the floor yet, could you use a cove tile for the last row of the wall? That's the traditional way to make that transition, and much easier to mop.
calypsochick
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi, everyone. Thanks for the responses! The floor tile is already installed, so I guess it IS too late for cove tile on the bottom. I like the look of baseboard, but I want a very simple short one. This is the look I am going for:

Is the baseboard installed first and then the tile on top of it? Or the tile goes to the bottom and then the baseboard? And if so, where does the baseboard get nailed into? Which is the correct order?

I was thinking if I did shoe molding, it would be short and simple. But I guess it is weird looking. And what would that be nailed to?

If I don't do a short baseboard, like 3.5 inches tall, then maybe sanded caulk is the cleanest way to go.

Thanks!!

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