Replies

1. 
   calvin | Jun 11, 2011 12:32pm | #1

   Janet

   There's a refinishing company that does that here.  Uses 3/4" oak qtr round (rather than traditional shoe)-sometimes stained to match............often just varnished light.  I don't like the look. 

   There's the floor, then the differring plane of the baseboard.  The shoe is part of that baseboard plane and I feel should remain the color of the base.

   Especially when the base is painted.  It just looks wrong to me to have stained shoe on painted base.

   Wouldn't have any knowledge of how they do it over the pond.

1. 
   jyang949 | Jun 11, 2011 04:25pm | #4

   Actually, all shoe molding looks wrong to me. My childhood home didn't have it, so to me it really sticks out looks like a cover-up. My current home has shoe molding, and I wish it could be ripped out.

   Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the shoe molding because it had been left in place when the refinisher came to do the floors. If ripped out now, the uncovered flooring will need to be sanded down, stained, etc. The refinisher says it would never blend in perfectly.

   That's why I asked about having the shoe match the floor. It would be a halfway measure, but I've only read about it (in a British book on trim).

   If I could do it over again, I'd rip out all that lead-filled base molding before refinishing the floor. 

   Janet

1. 
   DanH | Jun 18, 2011 10:08am | #5

   I've seen it both ways.

   Often the baseboard alone is not thick enough to cover the edges of the flooring.  And in some older homes the baseboard was installed before the final plaster and served as a plaster stop, so it's not removable to install/replace the flooring.  Typically in "modern" carpeted homes there is no shoe since the carpet can be neatly tucked under the base, but wood flooring often requires it, especially some of the "manufactured" products that require expansion room.

1. 
   jyang949 | Jun 18, 2011 09:40pm | #6

   What is it nailed to?

   One book said to nail shoe molding to the floor, so it covers any gap between baseboard and floor.

   Another book said to nail shoe molding to the baseboard, so any movement in the floor will not open up a gap between shoe and baseboard.

   Janet

1. 
   DanH | Jun 18, 2011 10:06pm | #7

   I've never seen it nailed to the floor.  Generally the profile is taller than wide and you have more "meat" to nail through if you nail to the base, plus if the flooring ends short nails would miss it.  Only if the bottom of the base is way higher than the finish floor would it make more sense to nail to the floor, and then only if the floor isn't the type that moves.

   If you nail to the floor and the flooring shrinks you have an ugly gap between base and shoe, and if the flooring expands you have a splintered base.

2. 
   oops | Jun 11, 2011 12:33pm | #2

   If you are talking about wood flooring, it is not uncommon around here. Just a matter of preference I guess.  A prefinished stained shoe that matches the flooring is easier to install since it does not damage and show scratches as easily as a painted shoe.

   I feel that, for the same reasons, it holds up better under normal use. That little moulding is subjected to a lot of abuse.

3. 
   JimB | Jun 11, 2011 02:38pm | #3

   With hardwood floors, I like to finish the base shoe to match

   the floor.  Otherwise, match it to the baseboard.