1840’s Farmhouse baseboard trim problem / solution?
My home is an 1840’s era brick farmhouse in Maryland. My family and I have been renovating it for the last few years. I enjoy using Fine Homebuilding as a reference! I figured I would try to leverage the knowledge of many of my fellow readers.
There are double parlors in the most formal part of the house. One of the parlors has raised paneling below the chair rail. It appears to be a face frame with floating panels. To the best of my knowledge it was installed during a renovation in the 1970’s. At that time, carpet was installed. We decided to remove the carpet and attempt to restore the original heart pine floors. This has been quite a process.
The last issue to be dealt with is the joint between the wood paneling and the uneven flooring. It would have been nice to “level” the flooring by raising it, etc. but that wasn’t feasible. My current thinking is to add trim that is scribed to flooring thus covering the gaps between the wood floor and the bottom of the paneling.
Any alternative suggestions? Perhaps deconstruct the face frame of the paneling and rebuild the bottom rail to be scribed to the floor? Also, any suggestions on trim that might look appropriate in the scribed position as described. Note the “easy fix” of just putting quarter round down will not work given the height of the gaps in some areas. All ideas are welcomed! Thanks!
Replies
What about using some window/door stop as shoe?
Forgive my ignorance regarding trim anatomy / terminology, but would you explain the difference between Ogee Baseboard and an Ogee Stop?
Mainly it's just size. the ogee describes the recurved shape on the top edge.
Base would start at about 3 1/4" tall.
Don't scribe it in the true sense of the word. That white, undulating cut will stick out like a sore thumb. Instead, taper the bottom of the stop, and fasten the upper edge parallel to the panel framing. The tapered stop doesn't need to fit perfectly flush with the floor. It only needs to hide the unsightly gap. TIP: Leave a small gap between the floor and the new stop. You'll be able slide a piece of paper between them when painting and you'll get a beautiful paint job without having to "cut in" or use tape to mask.
Instead of a traditional baseboard I would opt for a casing put on edge, maybe a 2 1/2 inch. I wouldn't go with anything fancy as that would draw your eye to it. Something simple like a 1x3 and routing a chamfer on the edge. Or even putting a streamline casing down might look well. Keep it simple, and best of luck!