The carpet guy came to our house and measured our room out the other day, and said to put the baseboards in after. I read on a lot of sites to do the base boards first. Is the carpet company asking us to do it this way so its easier for them? Should we put baseboards in first even though they say not to?
Before carpet and keep it 1/2 off the floor.
Baseboards after..then they can hide any staples used on the carpet edge and will be snug to the carpet for a finished look. The carpet guy is correct.
If your doing newly painted base boards( you don t say) they may have trying to avoid scratching freshly painted boards or a newly urethaned base.. Since paint wont thoroughly cure for a month, even a careful installer can scratch baseboards.The backing on new anti static carpets can be worse than sandpaper. I m not defending them,but showing you a point from a store owner/installer s view. I agree that baseboards should be installed 1st with a small gap under them so carpet can be tucked in and cut. This way your not installing base over a new carpet. Its a tough call either way. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar.. GL
one of the biggest reasons I recommend putting the base first to avoid problems when you replace the carpet the next time. The tack strips that hold the carpet stretch almost always gets trapped under the base and makes it almost impossible to tear out the old carpet without taking the base off. (which is added cost or work for that next job) Then if your replaced carpet is thinner then the old the baseboard sits lower, so there is often touch up painting to do because you paint more often then replace carpet (more work or cost). Also when removing base you often crack a piece so you have to glue it back together. I have been installing carpets for 15 years now ( thousands of jobs) and I can count on one hand the number of jobs I installed a stretch in carpet without the base. I highly recommend you putting the base on first.and if you don't then insist that they install the tack strips far enough away from the wall so that you don't have to worry the next time your replace the carpet ( the thickness of the base + 1/4 inch)
No way. Baseboards, or skirting boards in the UK, are put down first. I'd be a bit worried about any carpet fitters who were either so lazy or so incompetant that they would try to persuade you to put the baseboards in last just to save them the normal task of cutting the carpet accurately to the baseboard. Unless you are having some kind of modern plastic baseboard that just sticks or clips on, it is a nonsense to put wood baseboards in second. Put the baseboards in first, paint them fully, let the paint harden a few days, and make the carpet fitters exercise due diligence when fitting the carpets - as any credible fitter will. (and there is no reason for them to mark the walls either when they fit the carpet, except negiligence and accidents.) (maybe it's done differently in the US, but I'd like to see the carpet pulled out in the future having been stapled and skirting board put over the top - fitting wooden skirting boards is a fully skilled job for a carpenter or competent builder, there are angles and levels involved, then there is filler and various coats of paint, you just don't do this after fitting new carpet and you don't trap new carpet under skirting board - you might leave the final coat of gloss until after the carpet has been laid. )
