Flooring with Outside Contractor

[ZeroLot]

I prefer baseboard on top of hardwood floor like the first picture.  I like the clean look with out the quarter round trims.  Another issue is that if you have a very thick hardwood and/or need to have cork sheet under the hardwood and using the quarter round trims instead, your 5" baseboard will now look like a 3.5" baseboard.

Regarding hiding the imperfections.  My contractor put caulking between the baseboard and the hardwood floor so any gap or imperfection will be concealed.  In the areas that requires quarter round trims, they also had to put caulking between the trims and hardwood floors too, so there's no clear advantage between either one in term of hiding imperfections. 

In my case,  the quarter round trims are almost as expensive as the brand new 5" baseboard.  According my guy, the quarter round trim are solid wood and the base board are cheaper (MDF) fiber boards, so the cost are very close and you are not saving that much for using quarter round trims.

Hey lnc and ZeroLot,

For 5.25 baseboards or 5.50 baseboards, I got quoted $1.50 for material and $1.50 for labor. $200 to hire a painter and I have to buy my own paint. Is that a decent price or is there a huge markup here? I was told by the flooring company they they are making 0.50 on the material and 0.50 on the labor and paying the workers $1. Accurate or up charge?

That's sounds pretty good.  Usually the contractors are not trying to make money on the baseboard, since the flooring is where they make the profit. 

Agrees with Inc.  That sounds like a good deal.  Painters alone were charging me minimum of $1000 to paint all my baseboards but they are assuming the baseboards are already installed.  If the painters paint the baseboards BEFORE installation that's where the savings come in.

 

[Chairman]

@zerolot:

Since I believe you are going with Venetian and you have a new build, are they going to replace your baseboards or use quarter rounds?

I chose Venetian because they included free 5 1/4" baseboards and they are painting it for me as well.  I just have to supply the paint.  Not only is Venetian upgrading the baseboards in the house that's getting the wood floors but they are upgrading my ENTIRE house with the same matching baseboard.  Eric also let me choose which style of baseboards I wanted.  I am very excited with the look I chose.

You would think baseboards would be super cheap and flooring companies would just throw it in as an extra to win business.

 

[Chairman]

I prefer baseboard on top of hardwood floor like the first picture.  I like the clean look with out the quarter round trims.  Another issue is that if you have a very thick hardwood and/or need to have cork sheet under the hardwood and using the quarter round trims instead, your 5" baseboard will now look like a 3.5" baseboard.

Regarding hiding the imperfections.  My contractor put caulking between the baseboard and the hardwood floor so any gap or imperfection will be concealed.  In the areas that requires quarter round trims, they also had to put caulking between the trims and hardwood floors too, so there's no clear advantage between either one in term of hiding imperfections. 

In my case,  the quarter round trims are almost as expensive as the brand new 5" baseboard.  According my guy, the quarter round trim are solid wood and the base board are cheaper (MDF) fiber boards, so the cost are very close and you are not saving that much for using quarter round trims.

Hey lnc and ZeroLot,

For 5.25 baseboards or 5.50 baseboards, I got quoted $1.50 for material and $1.50 for labor. $200 to hire a painter and I have to buy my own paint. Is that a decent price or is there a huge markup here? I was told by the flooring company they they are making 0.50 on the material and 0.50 on the labor and paying the workers $1. Accurate or up charge?

That's sounds pretty good.  Usually the contractors are not trying to make money on the baseboard, since the flooring is where they make the profit. 

Agrees with Inc.  That sounds like a good deal.  Painters alone were charging me minimum of $1000 to paint all my baseboards but they are assuming the baseboards are already installed.  If the painters paint the baseboards BEFORE installation that's where the savings come in.

After installing the baseboards they still need to do touch up paint. Some painters will be lazy because of this and just paint it one time. I would prefer to have it all painted first and then touched up again. A more cleaner look. Anyone in here get their baseboards coped? I think most installers don't cope the baseboards. They just caulk it afterwards.

 

[lnc]

lnc,

Did you match your baseboards with the one that came with your home from IP? If so do you know which one it is? I would like to get the same one since I'm keeping the baseboards in the bathroom and bedrooms. Thanks!

No, I didn't match the new baseboard with the original one. 

My first floor got the new baseboard and 2nd floor keep the original one.  Since they are so far apart, match is not that necessary, but I did pick something similar.

You should also look into using 6" or 7" baseboard in the 1st floor instead of 5".  With Mulberry's 10' ceiling, taller baseboard would actually looks really nice.  Some model home had 7" baseboard, you could take a look see if you like it.  Mine is actually 6" instead of 5" I mentioned earlier. 

 

[irvinehomeowner]

7" baseboards? Dang... might as well wainscot the entire first floor.

 

[Chairman]

7" baseboards? Dang... might as well wainscot the entire first floor.

Haha... true that. The wider the baseboard the more money they probably want. I'm looking at spending almost 1,000 just to add baseboards when the home already comes with them. So frustrating!

 

[ZeroLot]

7" baseboards? Dang... might as well wainscot the entire first floor.

Haha... true that. The wider the baseboard the more money they probably want. I'm looking at spending almost 1,000 just to add baseboards when the home already comes with them. So frustrating!

Could be worse you could have asked the builder to install your flooring for you and ended up with quarter rounds all throughout your house. 

 

[Chairman]

Do you know someone who had that happen? Is that what Irvine Pacific does? Seems like they put the baseboards on super early. Why???

 

[lnc]

Do you know someone who had that happen? Is that what Irvine Pacific does? Seems like they put the baseboards on super early. Why???

Not just IP, all builders do this and all the model homes have these quarter round trims.  Anyone get the flooring through the builder will have these quarter round trims.  I don't know why they do that.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Is that what Irvine Pacific does? Seems like they put the baseboards on super early. Why???

I believe this is normal for most builders.

Since flooring can be customized by the buyer, it makes sense to put in the baseboards before flooring when you are building multiple homes because they are usually standard across all models. If you put in baseboards after flooring, the subcontractor has to schedule individually for each buyer which is not efficient.

 

[bones]

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[ZeroLot]

Do you know someone who had that happen? Is that what Irvine Pacific does? Seems like they put the baseboards on super early. Why???

Not just IP, all builders do this and all the model homes have these quarter round trims.  Anyone get the flooring through the builder will have these quarter round trims.  I don't know why they do that.

They do that because baseboards are always installed first.  Most don't upgrade their flooring because it's always an option and takes longer to install.  The baseboard team is not going to wait for the flooring team to install.

This happened to someone in my tract.  They upgraded to Provenza and paid a LOT through the builder.  They have quarter rounds all over their house and they don't have glued down floors up stairs.  Without the pads or glue it's going to be very loud and noisy when people are walking upstairs.

Another reason to upgrade wood flooring through an outside contractor.  At least you get what you paid for.  The builder gives convenience but ....

 

[Chairman]

they float the wood upstairs? no glue? unbelievable!

 

[bones]

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[Coleman]

6" baseboards can be purchased for $1 at the tile place near the 55 and Dyer.  Home Depot is over $2 per foot. 

When I installed baseboards at my old house, I followed this plan:
1) measure
2) measure
3) cut to size
4) paint
5) install
6) touch up where the nail holes are with paint
7) Caulk accordingly

The issue with doing baseboards at home with 6" boards is that many saws only cut up to like 5" so you have to "jimmy rig" it and lift the baseboard as you are cutting to get that extra inch.

 

[ZeroLot]

they float the wood upstairs? no glue? unbelievable!

Not floated, just nailed.  Glue is important because it acts as both a sound barrier and moisture barrier.

 

[ZeroLot]

Another reason to upgrade wood flooring through an outside contractor not to buy a house from Ipac. 

Fixed that for you.  My builder offers glued down upstairs and down.  >

Oh nice!!  Did they let you pick the glue?  Bostik and Sikabond T21 are currently the best on the market.

 

[Chairman]

Another reason to upgrade wood flooring through an outside contractor not to buy a house from Ipac. 

Fixed that for you.  My builder offers glued down upstairs and down.  >

Oh nice!!  Did they let you pick the glue?  Bostik and Sikabond T21 are currently the best on the market.

Sikabond T21 has a better warranty so youd want to pick that one if price is the same.

 

[Chairman]

anyone know of any lumber yards where I can shop for baseboards and hopefully get the material for less than $1 a linear yard for 5.25 baseboards? going to look at what home depot and lowes offers today as well as start shopping around for window treatments. ughhh....

 

[gaogi]

I got baseboards from Ganahl's lumber years ago.  My contractor at the time told me they're a lot cheaper than HD or Lowe's.