How To Put Moldings On The Floor

Place shoe molding across lower edge of baseboard.

How to put moldings on the floor.

Nail it at an angle so that the nail goes downward into the wood. First hold the base molding against the wall after you cut it to length and look for gaps. To give your baseboard molding a better look you can paint it and add some putty on the holes. Cut the base shoe a quarter round molding that goes at the bottom of the base molding to length and attach it with a finish nailer.

Lengths of scrap baseboard and put 45 degree angles on the ends. Set the pins on the same holes that you have created before. To complete the look add shoe molding. Cope inside joints and miter outside joints gluing as needed to secure.

Don t fill the void with caulk or glue. Keep your nails less than 1 1 2. Then apply construction adhesive at the top and bottom. Install the cap molding with small finish nails driving the nails into the baseboard or the wall studs as appropriate.

Take a few finish nails and place the baseboard against the wall. The nails won t hold if they re driven straight into the polystyrene molding. The voids allow for expansion and contraction between the t molding and the floor. Miter the corners as with the base molding.

Bond the shim to the subfloor and then bond the molding to shim. The molding should push into the adhesive to flatten it out. Cut a wood shim to fill the gap between the bottom of the molding and the subfloor. Nail the baseboard only into the wall never the floor.

Install base shoe molding with mitered joints at all of the corners coping base shoe usually isn t worth the trouble. Drag the compass point along the floor drawing a line across the bottom of the baseboard. Place the point of the compass even with the floor against the wall and the pencil against the baseboard slightly above the board s bottom. Always leave a gap between the base of the molding and the floors on each side.

If you can t find a molding in the same finish as your floor purchase unfinished molding and stain it yourself. If you see some cut a few braces from 4 to 6 in. Install the base shoe with small finish nails driven at an angle into the floor or subfloor. Set the level on the top edge of the baseboard and adjust it until the bubble is centered in the indicator.

The top of the board will be smooth but it will correctly set against the uneven floor.