Do You Have To Use Shoe Molding With Hardwood Floors

Baseboard and shoe molding dress up a new hardwood flooring installation.

Do you have to use shoe molding with hardwood floors. Shoe molding is needed in situations when the subfloor slab is uneven. Since the shoe molding is such a small and flexible piece of trim it can meander up and down with the floor hiding the unevenness with much less work than with just a baseboard. Pine or other softwoods are good for painting but do not take stain very well. There are a couple of reasons why you should remove the base shoe before installing a new floor.

This gap will help ensure your flooring has enough room to expand and contract throughout the seasons. Plus it probably has several layers of paint on it from over the years. It doesn t happen unless you have a specialty lumber location nearby or have custom made baseboards. Shoe molding conforms to the floor s surface and hides those gaps.

Like quarter round pieces shoe molding has a curved edge and is used as a transition piece between flooring materials and adjoining walls. When installing wood flooring you are required to leave an expansion gap of approx the thickness of the flooring around the edges of the room. Unlike quarter round molding the curve of shoe molding is less pronounced. Shoe molding is another trimming option to use along walls and baseboards.

If you have decided you do not want to remove the baseboards molding you can follow these steps. For example a 2 mc x 00365 cc redwood x 3 25 board size x a 30 foot wide room a 2 5 inch expansion requirement to ensure you do not create buckling in the floor. If you skip the shoe base moulding you will still achieve a finished looking floor with modern lines. The simplest builder grade primed.

There are no moldings baseboards that come in a standard 1 25 inch width. Some of our customers prefer the look of shoe molding as it complements tall baseboards. Hardwood shoe molding including oak ash and walnut. If you do choose to stain your moldings make sure to choose a stain grade hardwood base shoe or quarter round molding preferably the same species of wood as your baseboards or floors.

Wood is the most common type of shoe molding and you can buy inexpensive paintable pine shoe molding for 5 to 6 per eight foot section. If you are a traditionalist at heart you may want to add the shoe base simply because it will add a more ornate touch to the baseboards. It is most likely that the existing base shoe molding has been in place for quite some time so it may be dented or damaged in places. Using shoe molding gives the floor installer more latitude in their end cuts and also allows the trim carpenter to hide un level floors.