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agbrown55 02-28-2008 02:32 PM

Base-board to floor gap, unique problem.
Found your site today and would appreciate any advice, suggestions, affirmations, or condolences. Thanks in advance!

Crime scene:
I live in an earth home (2nd owner). Roof, N, W, E and center bearing wall are 8" poured concrete. S wall is 2x construction. Depending on the room, 2 or 3 walls are framed w/ studs laid flat and anchored to the concrete walls. On these walls the builder did not use a sill plate and the bottom of the studs are 1+ inches above the floor. Since the floor is a slab this gap can vary. Original floor covering was carpet, w/ ranch baseboard (3") and trim in all but kitchen and laundry. I have replaced most carpeting w/ tile or below grade wood flooring.

I soon discovered that in many areas 1/4 rd didn't cover the baseboard/floor gap, and where it did, I had nothing to nail into. Base shoe is taller but has the same nailing problem.

1) Drop the baseboard down, (requires repaint of wall) hope I have enough stud to securely nail into, and then nail the shoe to the baseboard.

2) Redo trim with wider baseboard. $ = pine = soft. $$$ = oak = hard. Even pine is a significant cost for entire house. Colonial base is available wider than ranch and might look OK with the existing ranch door trim.

3) Do old-style build-up, 1 x 6 probably needed, with top cap and shoe. Clear pine cost probably close to oak cost of solution 2, oak cost very high. Plus the doors would still be ranch and might look odd.

4) Do old-style using #2 pine, (low cost), clear coat and go for the notty-pine look. Have to wait for spring so I can ventilate the poly fumes.

5) Not sure about appearance, but using 1 1/4 door-stop might overlap existing base, enough to get a nail into it.

6) Under cut drywall and try to glue a 1x2 - 2x2 to the floor. Wall is
probably too rough.

7) ???

moneymgmt 02-29-2008 09:16 AM

Sounds like you already did the tiling/wood flooring? If so I guess building the floor up with a subfloor is out of the question? Comes back to the deciding factors of everything: time and money. If you have the time and money I'd replace it with taller trim. If you have time but no money, take it off, drop it down, paint the gap. If you have neither time or money, glue the shoe to the floor.... the idea I like least. If you have no time but lots of money, who cares just pay somebody to do it!

My initial thought when I read your question was to cover the gap with doorstop, which you posed as a possibility, that would be a cheap-ish fix without ripping all the current base off.

ngyoung82 03-03-2008 04:53 PM

I would drop it down. Dropping it a half inch isn't going to make or break being able to nail into something solid. Only drop it as much as you need to in order to have enough to nail the quarter round. I am having a brain fart but there is the other style like quarter round that is slightly taller and narrower that you could try as well. Paint is much cheaper then wood.
