I'd remove and replace the baseboards if I were doing new floors. You could use the same size or maybe find 4". If you keep the existing and have to add base shoe it will look about 2" tall.

Typically do the flooring people take care of installing (and caulking) the new trim?

Yeah, 2" is not going to be a good look. Pal, so do you think the 5" would look out of place with the rest of the house?

If you use decent, straight wood for the trim, it should not need to be caulked.

Jmc if the walls aren't straight, and mine are not, there's going to need to be caulk in some places.

We're in the process of having hardwood floors installed throughout our next home. We have 9' ceilings with 5 or 6" of crown molding. Our contractor removed the original 3" baseboards, the flooring guys installed the hardwood and our contractor then added 5" baseboards. This is the first time I've had the taller baseboards and I love the look. We didn't add shoe molding - for some reason that always looked to me like someone was covering up a poor install job.

Take off ALL the baseboards, and either reuse them or replace them. Reusing would be cheapest, even if you have to redo one or two.

I would reuse the existing baseboard, especially if it's painted (and thus easier to touch up than stained wood). Pull it off, install the floor, put it back. It already fits! And if you like the taller stuff, put that in the living room, etc., and just reuse the old stuff in the bedrooms.

Don't install the floor up to the moldings in there though! That just doesn't look right, and I bet the floor guys won't want to do it that way--it makes them look unskilled.

Fori - Ha, I feel like a goof. For some reason I completely nixed the idea of adding the existing base back. You're right! - It already fits so no cutting. I figured it would be difficult to keep in one piece but replacing a few pieces wouldn't be bad.

Truthfully I really want 5" base but I think I'll dislike how it looks with the small crown moulding. I should probably stick to the size we have or I think 4" wouldn't bug me too much but I don't think it's a common size. ?

I agree with Fori. I also think most trim looks better (more finished) with caulk. Our flooring guy did not do the trim work - my hubby did.

My flooring guys did the baseboards. They would have had to remove/replace the old ones if I'd kept them. I painted mine first and all they had to do was cut to size.

My baseboards are 7 " and my crown are 3". I like the look. I think five will be nice too!

I would not salvage the original baseboards. Actually it was even more cost effective for me to have a custom knife cut to duplicate some of the 1838 millwork in my house than patching repairing repainting and reinstalling.

If I had replaced with something stock it would have been even cheaper. I can't imagine it would be cheaper to reuse off the shelf than replace

One odd reason that you would replace the base beyond a change in size is if the baseboards are mdf which a lot of builders in our area tend to use. We wanted wood, real wood and replaced it all as a result.