Paint floor molding or buy new when putting in new flooring

4 years ago

I will be replacing my first floor with laminate. Just about every room on my first floor has a different style/type of flooring. There are several different carpets and two tile types.

Anyways, as you can see in the photo below, my floor molding, window trims, and door trims are all the same. A reddish/brown wood. Well, the laminate I will be putting down is a brown wood color. I know the two will clash, so I planned on doing something with the molding/trim.

I figured my two choices are to paint the molding/trim or replace it. I've tried painting molding in a former house of mine and it was a pain. The paint peeled off with the slightest normal bumps to it. Though, I could have used an incorrect paint selection or painted it incorrectly.

If this was your project, what would you do? Paint the molding/trim or get new? The flooring and molding will be my winter project, so time isn't really a concern. I have about 2,000 sq ft to do. Then I will have to do another 1,500 sq ft upstairs.

Opinions/suggestions are welcomed.

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Comments (5)

User
4 years ago
I wouldn’t do laminate. Ever. Quarter round is removed. New quarter round that hides the expansion gap and that matches the baseboard molding should be installed.
Jennifer Svensson
4 years ago
I just painted all trim and doors in our house. I sanded them some, primed and painted two coats of trim paint. Took me forever painting a couple hours after work every day but it would have been much more expensive to replace.
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cindylou62
4 years ago
We are in this process, doing room by room, we have wood casement windows also, my husband re-did the moldings with a bit larger thicker molding, which we painted white ourselves and installed. But, we left one of the rooms moldings along the floor in place and sanded, because we had upgraded it to thicker when we put wood flooring in that room, so it was stained to match. So we sanded it a bit, primed and painted it while it stayed on the wall, that was more trouble than it was worth and when you get down near it, you can tell, it’s not as smooth and nice and I was very careful to do it right. In my opinion, you are better off replacing it than trying to paint it.
cindylou62
4 years ago
Funny thing too, I have the arched window also, we had to keep that molding in place and just paint it, it was hard to find someplace to order that curved trim.
Helen
4 years ago
I would remove and replace the quarter round with real molding :-).

I had new flooring installed recently and what a difference it makes as there was previously quarter round. I am not a pro but I think quarter round is used to avoid the time and expense of taking off molding and replacing it to hide the edges.

When I had wood floors installed originally, the old molding was left on and then quarter round was added to the old molding. I realize now that this was the cheap way to do it but I didn't know any better the first time.

Paint floor molding or buy new when putting in new flooring

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