Replies

1. 
   Matt | Aug 28, 2005 07:54pm | #1

   My guess is that he was refering to what I would call the skirt board - the board that goes on top of the 2x4 spacer.  We use 1x10.  The 2x4 spacer leaves room for the drywall and the skirt board.

   When I have heard the term mopboard, it was used interchangably with "base molding".  I think the idea is a mop would hit up against this board when your grandmother mopped the floor.  In those days the "mop board" was more tipacally a 1x6, 1x8, etc, topped with some kind of basecap molding.

   I have never heard it used in reference to stairs though.

   http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mopboard

    

1. 
   Piffin | Aug 28, 2005 08:09pm | #2

   Same here, Matt. I only heard the term mop-board after moving to New England and seeing more old places with taller base. Depending on layout, the skirt becomes an extension of said base-board/mop-board. 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   HammersLammers | Jul 26, 2022 10:03am | #3

   I used to think as others have commented that, yes, a mop-board was just a name for what we now call base board, but I now believe it had a very practical name and was aptly named; i.e., when floors were wet-mopped/waxed frequently, it served as a barrier or shield between the bottom of the plaster and wallpaper and the wet mop.