Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Help!! Installing baseboard in my basement...

I just did my HT room. Per the carpet guy, he reccomended doing the baseboard after, I did this with no problems. Sounds like it's too late for you. I'm sure either way has it's pro's/con's.

Barley Pop and air tools a great combination

When I had carpet put in at our old house in the basement, the installer told me to put the baseboard trim last. That way it will always be nice and snug on the top of the carpet with no gaps. I am looking at the carpet in our new house and I would say that looking at the carpet already installed that the trim could have been put in first. I think that it really comes down to the preference of the carpet installer more than a right or wrong way to do it. I think that if there is no trim in place when they lay the carpet, the installer can get the tack strips a little closer to the wall and really get the carpet in there easier than if there was baseboard in the way, but I also agree that a really good installer should be able to do a great job either way.

I think that you are right on track for getting the baseboard in since you are doing it first. Leaving that small gap allows the carpet to be under the trim in the end. It is also a lot easier, I would think, to make sure that you get a nice straight install since you're putting the scrap trim on the flat cement and installing the good trim on that nice even surface.

Let me know how it works out. I will be doing the same thing in the spring....

I'm with RVecc on this one. A carpenter told me this and when the carpet estimator came to give me a quote he said his installers would be very happy with that. I believe the trim is more like 1/2 to 9/16 of an inch. It's nice to put the carpet down once most of the dirty work is done so you don't have to protect it. Installing the trim after the carpet is fine also.
Not really my area of expertise but if you need to scaffold the Washington Monument or install security bollards I can help.

Every home / building I’ve built, I installed the door frames and trim first. I’ll pop the hinge pins and store the doors somewhere safe. Carpet is the last thing to go down, then it’s a vacuuming and move in.

Depending on the floor covering, the trim will be installed at different heights above the subfloor to give ‘just enough’ clearance for the floor covering. Typically, baseboard trim will be 3/8” above the sub floor when using carpet. As previously mentioned, the tack strip goes next to the trim, then the carpet is tucked under the trim. Seeing how you have concrete, you should talk to your carpet installer and find out if he’s going with a glue down or carpet with pad and tack strips. I don’t know how they will install tack strips to concrete though. Construction adhesive maybe? Unless the concrete is still green, nails will not hold it as even concrete nails will cause the concrete to shatter.

After the carpet is down, I go back over the trim and tweak it or spot touch up as needed. Then I hang the doors. I don’t let the installer touch doors. By that point, all they want to do is get on to the next job and usually scratch the door finish or poke holes in the walls when re-hanging the doors.

Thanks everyone and mdrew,

Sounds like I'm taking the right steps, just can't wait for it to get done