Replies

1. 
   Piffin | Apr 17, 2006 04:40am | #1

   some carpet layers like it up about 3/8" and some like it snug to the subfloor. Ask the guy who will be laying the carpet

    

    

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1. 
   user-139195 | Apr 17, 2006 05:42am | #2

   What if you have tile in some rooms, should the trim be at the same height?

2. 
   IMERC | Apr 17, 2006 05:51am | #3

   about 3/8" from the floor .. try not to exceede a half inch...

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1. 
   user-139195 | Apr 17, 2006 05:56am | #4

   What if you have tile in some rooms and carpet in other rooms, what is the correct procedure?

1. 
   PhillGiles | Apr 22, 2006 10:18pm | #16

   It's still 3/8 to 1/2, and all base set at the same height; you set the cap on tile/wood with shoe; if want some clearance on initial installation, then rip the base shorter; if changing flooring later, you can cut some base off with the horrizontal cutter if you need to, you'll have to do that for the door casing no matter what..
   Phill Giles
   The Unionville Woodwright
   Unionville, Ontario

3. 
   gordsco | Apr 17, 2006 06:01am | #5

   I use knuckle closest to the fingernail on my index finger for a spacer.

   Its about the right height , 3/8"

   and quicker than shims.

   Baseboard in tiled areas is installed after tile.

   Gord

4. 
   ChrisB | Apr 17, 2006 06:29am | #6

   I don't where the other guys get 3/8" but that ain't enough.

   Last house I built we put ALL baseboard 3/4" above subfloor. With a good pad under the carpet, the baseboard was very snug to the carpet. In one small space we decided to extend some hardwood foor. Piece of cake with baseboard already 3/4" off subfloor.

   We even tiled an area originally planed for carpet. Thinset, hardibacker, thinset, ceramic tile, exactly 3/4" from subfloor to baseboard.

   I like putting in baseboard first before all finish floor in new construction simply because trades will trash your floor, regardless of what it is, if it goes in anytime other than absolutely lasts.

   Chris

1. 
   philarenewal | Apr 17, 2006 06:36am | #7

   >>"I like putting in baseboard first before all finish floor in new construction simply because trades will trash your floor, regardless of what it is, if it goes in anytime other than absolutely lasts.

   If a trim carp trashes your floor, you got the wrong trim guy.

   If a paint guy trashes your floor, you got the wrong painter.

   If a taper trashes your floor . . . you got nothin to complain. ;-) 

   "Let's get crack-a-lackin"  --- Adam Carolla

5. 
   Sphere | Apr 17, 2006 06:37am | #8

   I use a scrap of ther actuall base trim in real life . SAbout 11/16.

   Walk a transition with a cope or return depending on paint or stain.

   Stopping the base before the tile is a good thing..lessum ya like them shavers.

   Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

   You gotta be kidding me ..Jorge is @ what %? Now?

6. 
   semar | Apr 17, 2006 09:11am | #9

   get samples of the floor you are going to install. Height depends on the thickness of the floorcovering. Hardwood floors and tiles: always baseboard after installation if it should look good

7. 
   Matt | Apr 17, 2006 02:18pm | #10

   Re carpeted areas, the gap you leave is dependant on the grade and type of carpet  you are installing; a good grade carpet might require 7/16 or a 1/2" gap.  Cheap carpet might require 3/8" gap.  Berber stype carpet tends to be thinner too. 

8. 
   JDRHI | Apr 17, 2006 03:44pm | #11

   I prefer to install base after the finish floor has been installed. Of course, that aint always possible.

   I agree with a previous poster. 3/4" above subflooring. This will allow for carpeting of various thicknesess. It also allows for various other floorings......which often change during the life of the house. Many times carpet is installed originally to save money. Five, ten years down the road, HO may want to upgrade to solid wood. Not being able to slip wood flooring below base is going to force you to install a larger shoe moulding than may be desired.

   J. D. Reynolds

   Home Improvements

1. 
   fourquarter | Apr 18, 2006 03:17am | #12

   I would poo-poo the 3/4"idea altogether.  If you leave base up too high there can be a gap between carpet and bottom of base...and that looks like crap.  I typically shoot for 3/8" or 1/2" above rough floor.  Those carpet guys always manage to get a nice tuck.  If it's tight then they'll just cut the pad short of the perimiter. 

   Also, if you wait until carpet is in to base, it adds a bunch of headaches.  Themost notable from a carpenters perspective is that you have to fight the carpet as you're installing, as far as getting your base at a consistant height, and plus the painters have come and gone.  So now they are going to come back and mask wall and carpet.  PITA.

   However, on all other flooring, except for linoleum, I wait until it's down so that there's a nice,tight joint.

    

   KH

9. 
   jonblakemore | Apr 18, 2006 03:20am | #13

   I vote for 3/8" up for carpet, 3/4" up for hardwood and tile. Vinyl gets base tight to the floor.

   Shoe goes over all hard flooring, in my ideal world.

    

   Jon Blakemore

   RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA

10. 
    alrightythen | Apr 18, 2006 11:02pm | #14

    Let me tell you something... you got guys here telling you 3/8" others telling you more..... my carpet salesmale was recently fired over several issues-one of them being that he told me to run my base at 1/2" ....for the berber I was using it turned out to be too high. when the installer showed up he right away said  too high. long story short they cut strips of door skin  and layed it behind the carpet tack so there would not be a gap. it was lot of extra work and good thing they didn't try to get me to pay for it...but it did add to my salesman losing his job.

    sooo....ask your carpet salesman and make sure he knows what he's talking about...ask to speak to one of the installers if you have to, or ask him to confirm what he says.

11. 
    bmon | Apr 22, 2006 07:06pm | #15

    I just finished hundreds of feet of custom milled maple base over subfloor(to be carpeted) and tile. I used 1/4" peices of scrap laid out in intervals across the sub-floor, especially at corners. As far as carpet is concerned, there is no exact way. It is all relative to the pile of the finished product. As for tile, down on the finished floor is the way. Room to room transitions and where the tile breaks to what ever might be happening. Coping the bottom, or doing returns, or dying into casing are ways to solve those issues. I use tester pieces for inside and outside corners, to "read" the corners to find the exact compound ( as it is most corners are not plumb or square after the sheetrockers). Cope inside corners for the everlasting tight corners for stain grade, and miter for paint grade. Outside corners usually wind up being more than 45 degrees. I set up my saw up to go past 45, to about 48.5 or so. Often, not only do the outside corners need to be past 45 degrees, but they need to have a compound miter. 47 degrees, with 1.5 degree angle, long on the bottom is how most of this last job was. I always make all the finish moves (putty and caulk) myself, to avoid the next person's possible lack of attention to detail. ---In a giant nutshell--

12. 
    tex1951 | Apr 23, 2006 10:00pm | #17

    We used to take all the 1X scraps and rip them down to 1/2" creating a 1/2" X 3/4" block that we would cut into 2" pieces and we would set the base on top of these.  The carpet layers loved it.  We also cut the base for ceramic tile and tacked it in place, so the tile setter could remove it easily and then he'd install the base when he was done.

1. 
   jamar hammer | Apr 24, 2006 12:43am | #18

   yeah, having a flooring professional install baseboard lol, not usually a good idea.May as well loan them a chainsaw and a sledge hammer lol.

2. 
   jeffwoodwork | Apr 24, 2006 05:27am | #20

   Wow a tilesetter that would install base as he went you must be joking?  If he did that what would the finish carpenter be for?

13. 
    bjr | Apr 24, 2006 01:58am | #19

    I use the flat side of a carpenters pencil as a gauge for setting the height of wood base on floor with carpet. If the carpet has pad the tack strip is installed about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch away from the base so the pad stops in front of the tack strip and just the carpet tucks under the base. If it's glue down carpet the installers just cut it long enough and tuck it under the base. Have never been called back to fix gaps in carpet/base transitions doing it this way.

    BjR