Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?

Many baseboards are installed before the carpet. Not really related to
kicking a "hole in the new drywall". Done correctly the carpet will
tuck in well and look good. Taller baseboards look better. (IMO)

I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.

To change the carpet may then require you remove the baseboards.

If the carpet is stretched in properly,trimmed correctly, there will
not be a "hump" at the tack strip. YMMV

On 10/8/2013 3:22 PM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary
Personally, I like to let the carpet guy do his thing. It seems the
carpet is a better fit. I know you can do it either, but I always do
the board last.

Just me.

Steve

On Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:07:04 -0700, SteveB
wrote:

Just me.

Steve

Long time, no see.

Hope you are well.

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.

I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it
would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer
insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the
baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.

so if baseboard goes first then do you raise it up a quarter inch or so?

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this
simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the
tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

If you do the carpet last, and it ever needs restretched, good luck!

There's a new power stretching tool on the market, my installer used it on
mine last year. It doesn't go from wall to wall (possibly marring up the
baseboard), can only be used if you have a wood subfloor. Anyways, pretty
neat invention.

There shouldn't be any hump at the tack strip, unless someone is putting
the tack strip on top of the pad!

"Curly Fikes" wrote in message
...

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this
simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of
the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

If you do the carpet last, and it ever needs restretched, good luck!

OOPS! I mean if you do the baseboard last, good luck! I think they would
have a hard time trying to restretch.



There's a new power stretching tool on the market, my installer used it
on mine last year. It doesn't go from wall to wall (possibly marring up
the baseboard), can only be used if you have a wood subfloor. Anyways,
pretty neat invention.

There shouldn't be any hump at the tack strip, unless someone is putting
the tack strip on top of the pad!

On 10/8/2013 7:57 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.

I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it
would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer
insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the
baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.


I've never had to try it, but I'd think a 6 foot level would make
keeping the baseboard straight pretty easy.

Why is it harder to get the baseboard straight after the carpet is laid?

On 10/8/2013 6:22 PM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary


Always baseboard first. It is designed to trim the wall, not the
carpet. You may want to change flooring later

On 10/8/2013 5:22 PM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary


Baseboard first. This is to make it better for the painter whether it
is paint or stain and lacquer. The carpenter has a much better chance
of fitting joints and keep the trim running in a straight line. The
trim is usually set up on 3/4 blocks for a tall nap, 1/2 for commercial
weave, to allow for tack strip and carpet.


--


___________________________________

Keep the whole world singing . . .
Dan G
remove the seven

Ivan:

The answer depends on what you mean by "baseboard".

Where you have a separate baseboard and shoe molding, then you would install the baseboards, then the carpet and then the shoe molding (if you choose to install shoe moldings).

The reason for that is because when you install carpet, you use a tool called a "wall trimmer" to cut the carpet about 1/2 an inch before the baseboard, depending on the size of the carpet, and then stretch the carpet the rest of the way to the baseboard. The wall trimmer needs to slide along a straight and preferably vertical surface, and often the bottom of the drywall will be an inch or so off the floor, and that can cause problems with the wall trimmer.

However the reason builders will typically install single piece baseboard first is that the wood trim (like baseboards and door casings and such) are generally the last thing to be done when building a house. So, in the interest of saving time and money, the builder is going to want his finish carpenters to put the baseboards in before they leave the job site. That's cuz if he calls the finish carpenters to come back to install the baseboards AFTER the carpet is installed, then he has to have the carpet cleaned cuz of all the sawdust tracked all over it.

But, really the bottom line is that if you have a smooth vertical surface along which you can slide your wall trimmer, you can slide it along a baseboard just as easily as sliding it along the drywall, so it really doesn't matter.

When I install carpets in my building, I stretch the carpet up to the baseboard and then install the shoe molding to cover the cut edge of the carpet.

On Wed, 9 Oct 2013 08:02:29 +0200, nestork
wrote:



However the reason builders will typically install single piece
baseboard first is that the wood trim (like baseboards and door casings
and such) are generally the last thing to be done when building a house.
So, in the interest of saving time and money, the builder is going to
want his finish carpenters to put the baseboards in before they leave
the job site. That's cuz if he calls the finish carpenters to come back
to install the baseboards AFTER the carpet is installed, then he has to
have the carpet cleaned cuz of all the sawdust tracked all over it.

The real reason is that the baseboard is part of the wall and it is
used to finish of the wall. Carpet,if even installed, is merely
decoration, not a part of the structure. Carpet can be changed at any
time without interfering with the wall trim.Not every house will have
carpets so the wall trim is done in proper fashion when the wall is
built. If the owner decides to use no carpet or area rug, the trim is
properly in place, as it should be.

On 10/8/2013 6:22 PM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary


Consider replacing either the bb or the carpet.....if carpet was laid
first, you would then have to rip out the bb in order to replace or
restretch the carpet.

On Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:57:11 -0700, wrote:

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this
simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of
the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.

I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it
would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer
insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the
baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.


Wouldn't the 'compression' to the carpet with that resultant depression
collecting stuff lead towards a "How do you clean this?!" type problem?

On Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:47:01 -0400, DerbyDad03
wrote:

On 10/8/2013 7:57 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.

I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it
would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer
insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the
baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.


I've never had to try it, but I'd think a 6 foot level would make
keeping the baseboard straight pretty easy.

You don't want the baseboard level, you want it parallel to the floor.
The two are not necessarily the same thing.

Why is it harder to get the baseboard straight after the carpet is laid?

Because it tends to float on top of the carpet. It's much easier to
mount flat (or with appropriate shim) to the subfloor without the
carpet in the way. The installer can cut up to the baseboard or tuck
it under, depending.

Do you propose to remove the baseboard every time the carpet is
changed?

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 17:22:05 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

so if baseboard goes first then do you raise it up a quarter inch or so?

Certainly no more than that. Ask the installer.

On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:03:23 -0700, RobertMacy
wrote:

On Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:57:11 -0700, wrote:

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 15:22:31 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this
simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of
the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.

I went through this five or six years ago. Like you, I thought it
would be smart to do the baseboard after the carpet. The installer
insisted the carpet be installed last. It's harder to get the
baseboard straight after the carpet is laid.


Wouldn't the 'compression' to the carpet with that resultant depression
collecting stuff lead towards a "How do you clean this?!" type problem?

It's going to get compressed if it's tucked under the baseboard
anyway.

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 21:18:05 -0400, "Curly Fikes"
wrote:


"Curly Fikes" wrote in message
...

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...
Installer suggests baseboards be installed prior to carpet. Is this
simply so he doesn't kick a hole in the new drywall?
I thought by installing baseboards last I could eliminate the hump of
the tack strip. Also daughter could move in much sooner.
Advice, pro and con.
Thanks
Ivan Vegvary

If you do the carpet last, and it ever needs restretched, good luck!

OOPS! I mean if you do the baseboard last, good luck! I think they would
have a hard time trying to restretch.

Shouldn't be a problem. The tackless strips are an inch or so from the
wall. Just restretch it and trim.

On Tue, 8 Oct 2013 17:22:05 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

so if baseboard goes first then do you raise it up a quarter inch or so?

If the floor is not level, yes, raising the baseboard up 1/8-1/4"
before nailing it - you will be fine. Be consistent so the inside /
outside corners match in height.

On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:59:44 -0400, wrote:

The tackless strips are an inch or so from the
wall.

I've never seen it that far away. The strip is about 3/8" inch from
baseboard - just enough space to trim and tuck the carpet in.

On 10/8/2013 7:22 PM, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
so if baseboard goes first then do you raise it up a quarter inch or so?

How much to raise it depends on thickness of finished surface so you end
up w/ the proper exposed width. With the advent of narrower base than
what generally used to be, can end up w/ a too-narrow-appearing
baseboard when finished if not aware of the finished level.

As another says, however, be sure to run a line or at least check on how
out of flat the subfloor actually is (another ndamhiktnftdt* ).

* no, don't ask me how i know to not forget to do that!

--