How To Install Floor Molding

Cope inside joints and miter outside joints gluing as needed to secure.

How to install floor molding.

The nails won t hold if they re driven straight into the polystyrene molding. Set the circular saw blade depth to the depth of the board and on a 5 degree bevel with the face of the cut toward the wall. The reducer molding makes the transition between the two floor heights aesthetically pleasing and safe for walking between the two spaces. Nail it at an angle so that the nail goes downward into the wood.

Doing base trim or the molding at floor level is mostly the same as installing it anywhere else on a wall. Trim the board along the penciled line. To complete the look add shoe molding. Remove the board and set it onto a cutting surface.

You don t want to place the molding directly at the subfloor. Nail or glue the pieces in place. Shim the floor gaps to avoid tilted baseboards. It s best to keep the nails at the bottom of the base above the gap so they go through drywall not air.

For a professional finished look to your floor you ll need to consider molding trims and transitional pieces. Drag the compass point along the floor drawing a line across the bottom of the baseboard. Use scarf joints to splice trim pieces on long walls. In my line of work i sometimes have to install baseboard for my customers.

Reducer molding is the molding you install between two flooring types that are of different heights. In this video i share tips and tricks that i have learned over the years to create. Just be sure to use thin blocks or skims to account for carpeting. For a more traditional look add cap molding to the top of the baseboards.

Place shoe molding across lower edge of baseboard. Miter the corners as with the base molding. 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. Using chunks of 1 2 inch scrap plywood cut the blocks and tuck them into the gap every few feet.