# Baseboard before floor?



## rhythm-method (Feb 7, 2006)

Hi all,

My partner and I have a job coming up shortly to install about 1000 sq ft of hardwood floor - 3/4" prefinished bamboo - in 3 rooms & a hallway. Both of us are relative newbies so please forgive any stupid questions. 

He mentioned being at other job sites where the baseboard was installed prior to the finished floor being laid. Apparently this sequence was planned to prevent any damage to the floor from the baseboard install.

I have always done it floor first then baseboards after.

Any thoughts from the experts out there on the pros and cons - baseboards first or floor first?

Also, any particular quirks to installing bamboo versus say oak?

Thanks for your help!

Graeme


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## Donedat (Aug 13, 2005)

Floor first. Baseboard last. Bamboo is soft and splits easy on the tongue. Be careful and use lots of cardboard for staging tools and walking on. Sometimes the bamboo prefinished is only 1/2" thick so you will need an adapter plate for your machine if that is the case.

Don't cut any corners. Use lots of corregated cardboard. You can get it in rolls from packing distributors.


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## rhythm-method (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks Done - appreciate the feedback.:thumbsup: 

Cheers
Graeme


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Sounds like good advice from a man that has laid some grass before lol. Be extremely cautious, its very soft, dents if you look at it crooked.


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## rhythm-method (Feb 7, 2006)

Thanks again guys - much appreciated!


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## kris jusnes (Apr 10, 2006)

Donedat said:


> Floor first.


With unfinished hardwood, always run the floor first. However, when it comes to prefinished flooring, I respectfully disagree. 

When we do the interior trim AND the prefinished bamboo flooring in a house (or any prefinished flooring for that matter), we always do all the trim first, using 3/4" spacers (or whatever width the floor you are using is) under the doors, cased openings, and baseboard as they are nailed. Typically, the painters come next and caulk/prime the entire house, and sometimes even throw up the first coat or all of the paint. Then we come back and run the flooring.

Doing it in this order saves the floor from any and all dings, dents, and scratches caused not only by trim installation, but also by the painters and any other yahoo that comes inside. Yes, corrugated cardboard meticulously added on top of the flooring helps exponentially, but any materials, tools, or paint cans that slip from somebody's butterfingers (we all have them sometimes, accidents happen) is susceptible to gouging the cardboard, and certainly the floor underneath.

Yes, painting the whole interior makes the walls and trim equally as vulnerable to scuffs and dents caused during the process of laying the flooring, but thats what the point-up is for. You cant go back and skim or repaint prefinished flooring, and wood putty is an eyesore as it is in the facenails along walls.


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## Donedat (Aug 13, 2005)

Kris,

I disagree. Mainly because you don't want to pay your hardwood installer 5 bucks a square foot to install in your homes. You expect him to give you the same price as if he didn't have to install under existing baseboard. You may think you're saving time and money doing it your way, but your installer should get paid more for it. You would actually save money using floor protection and expecting the subs to tread lightly after the flooring goes in.


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## kris jusnes (Apr 10, 2006)

Donedat,

I'm sorry if I hadn't clearly indicated that we are not contractors, we are the interior trim guys/hardwood installers/punch out/whatever random thing the contractor asks us to do. It also means we are the ones that come back in and replace prefinished flooring that has been scratched. As a matter of fact, this weekend we will be tearing out an entire kitchen in a house that closed last month, because it was so scratched up from the cabinet guys.


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

I try to do the base after flooring. 1/4 round/shoe mould just looks tacky to me. If you HAVE to do it, compound the base. It looks much better IMHO.


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## adamsb (Aug 25, 2005)

If it is something thin like 3/8 or 1/2" flooring we leave the base boards on and then run shoe after we get done. I know a lot of people who do that. Especially if the house is not new.


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## Donedat (Aug 13, 2005)

kris jusnes said:


> Donedat,
> 
> I'm sorry if I hadn't clearly indicated that we are not contractors, we are the interior trim guys/hardwood installers/punch out/whatever random thing the contractor asks us to do. It also means we are the ones that come back in and replace prefinished flooring that has been scratched. As a matter of fact, this weekend we will be tearing out an entire kitchen in a house that closed last month, because it was so scratched up from the cabinet guys.


Ouch. Sure hope you guys don't have to pick that one up for free. Yep, if the General would just vacuum and the cabinet guys could also. I like the floor protection idea.


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## kris jusnes (Apr 10, 2006)

Donedat said:


> Ouch. Sure hope you guys don't have to pick that one up for free. Yep, if the General would just vacuum and the cabinet guys could also. I like the floor protection idea.


Ha ha, no sir, you better believe we'll be hearing that cha-ching!

For some reason, very few other subcontractors we work around pick up their smaller trash, let alone sweep or vaccuum. We ALWAYS finish our job and make it look like we were never there. Thats just manners, you know?

I dont mind holding our trim up first and then sliding the prefinished hardwood underneath after the fact. It saves us from coming back for repairs, which I cant stand. Even though we charge for it and make it worth our while, I much prefer forward progress at all times.


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## kris jusnes (Apr 10, 2006)

Teetorbilt said:


> I try to do the base after flooring. 1/4 round/shoe mould just looks tacky to me. If you HAVE to do it, compound the base. It looks much better IMHO.


In the vast majority of new construction houses we run the prefinished flooring in, the dips and bumps across the span of the floors usually cause gaps under the baseboard, big or small. I would be absolutely tickled to have a job where all the base sits nice and tight over every foot of the flooring!


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