When Trimming a Bedroom With a Base Do You Leave a Gap or Does the Trim Go All the Way to the Floor?

Hard Flooring

• The base molding installation occurs after the finished floor is installed, with the exception of a carpet installation. It installs directly on top of the new flooring material without a gap. This allows ceramic tile, wood or laminate flooring to move beneath the molding as it expands and contracts.

  If small gaps show between the base and the hard surface floor, a shoe molding covers them to complete the molding installation. Vinyl floors don't move, but the base installation still occurs after the vinyl is laid.

Carpeting

• A carpeted floor requires a gap between the base molding and the unfinished floor where the carpet installer will tuck the cut edge of the carpeting under the base. One-half inch is customary, but thicker carpets may require a higher gap.

  Base molding added after the carpet installation is more difficult because the carpeting makes it hard to hold the base level with the floor. Carpet installers prefer to lay the carpeting after the base molding so they can tuck the trimmed carpet edges underneath it.

Uneven Floors

• Uneven floors present a problem. The floor rises and falls across the length or width of the room and base molding is not flexible enough to follow the changes in height. The result is unavoidable and substantial gaps between the molding and the finished floor surface. A shoe or quarter-round molding will help cover the gap, but in severe cases, the shoe mold will have a serpentine or wavy up-and-down appearance.

Bedroom Base

• Installation of base molding in a bedroom begins at a doorway after the door casing is installed. The molding is installed piece by piece as the installer moves around the room. No gaps are left between the finished floor surface and the molding. The inside corners are cope-cut to accommodate out-of-square corners and seasonal wood expansion and contraction that show gaps. Miter-cut outside corners are individually cut to fit, glued and then nailed together to prevent seasonal gaps.