Baseboard installation and door and window casing

Baseboard styles and heights

Baseboard is the trim people see most and think about least. It covers the joint between wall and floor, takes knocks from vacuums and chair legs, and sets the scale of the room. Taller rooms want taller base.

• Flat modern base. A square-edged board, sometimes with a small reveal at the top. Suits contemporary homes.
• Tall base with cap. A wide flat board with a separate cap molding on top, as in the photo on this page. The cap can follow a wavy wall where a one-piece profile would show gaps.
• Base with shoe or quarter round. A small molding at the floor that covers gaps over uneven tile or wood.
• Built-up base. Two or three pieces stacked for very tall ceilings.

How we install baseboard

Good base is straight along the top and tight at the floor. On a typical job we:

1. Install after the floor is finished, so the base sits on the final surface.
2. Scribe the bottom edge to dips in the floor instead of relying on shoe molding.
3. Cope inside corners and glue outside miters.
4. Nail into studs and, along long runs, into the bottom plate.
5. Fill, sand and caulk the top edge ready for paint.

South Florida stone and large-format tile floors are often flat, but the walls are not. That is where a separate cap molding earns its keep.

Door casing and window casing

Casing frames each opening and should share a design language with the baseboard. A flat casing with a back band works with modern base. A molded casing with plinth blocks at the floor suits a traditional house.

Wide openings without a door can get full paneled jambs, as in the doorway shown above. Windows get casing on the sides and head, and often a stool and apron below. Where a window sits deep in a block wall, we line the return with wood or MDF before casing it.

When new interior doors go in, the casing is part of the same job, so the reveal around each door is consistent.

What sets the price of trim work

Factor	Effect on the quote
Base height and pieces	Taller base and two-piece base take more material and time.
Corners and openings	Each corner and door opening breaks a run and adds joints.
Floor condition	Uneven floors need scribing or shoe molding.
Removal	Pulling old trim and patching drywall is extra.
Casing style	Plinth blocks, back band and paneled jambs add parts per opening.
Paint or stain	Stain-grade needs hardwood and tighter joints.

A flat per-foot rate would be wrong for most houses. We price trim once we have seen the rooms and openings.

Trim as one system

Baseboard, casing, wainscoting and crown molding read as a set. Planned together, the profiles relate to each other and the joints between them line up, on new construction and on renovations where the old trim is coming out.