How To Install Wood Floor Under Existing Baseboard

This gap is needed to give the hardwood room to move with changing humidity.

How to install wood floor under existing baseboard.

In this video i share tips and tricks that i have learned over the years to create. When attaching the base shoe quarter round nail the molding into the bottom of the existing baseboard and not into the flooring itself. In my line of work i sometimes have to install baseboard for my customers. Use 11 4 to 11 2 in long enough to penetrate the molding the drywall and drive at least 1 2 inch into the wall s base plate.

Wood expands and contracts with the seasons and needs an expansion gap around the perimeter so it doesn t cause buckling in the floor during an expansion time of year. Leave a 1 4 inch or larger gap between the existing baseboard and the new hardwood flooring you are installing. Nail threshold or transition strips in place where the edge of the floor is exposed. Start by putting the baseboard end of the flooring under the first baseboard at an angle.

Install the base shoe quarter round molding over the expansion gap created by your new hardwood flooring. Keep the lower edge of the baseboard even with the top of the floor and nail the baseboard into the wall. Use baseboard nails or brads no longer than 18 inches apart for 3 4 inch thick molding. I m kind of astounded that your hardwood installer would put the new hardwood right up against the existing baseboards that is a total no no for hardwood installation.

Then slide the long edge of the flooring under the other baseboard straightening the flooring piece into place. Set the quarter round shoe moulding on a piece of paper to keep it just a hair above the floor.