Hi there,We will soon be replacing our old, ugly carpet and baseboards with new. I'm wondering what should be installed first - the carpet, or baseboards? What material is best suited for baseboards?Thanks for your help!
Install the baseboards 5/8 to 3/4 off the floor first. Carpet always comes last. It depends on what style you want and how much you want to pay for base boards. You can get pine and oak just about anywhere and they work just fine.
theres too schools of thought. put the base down first and the carpet guys might hit it with their hammers when they put down their strips but it makes it easier to take up the carpet if you ever need to. its best to paint the base first so you wont get paint on the carpet. also it makes the base look better when the base goes over other flooring besides carpet. when the base is put over the carpet, it can be an inch higher then the other way, which makes it higher when you come to a different floor levelsay lino. put it down first, paint or stain it first. you can use mdf or wood. depends on stain or paint
Carpet first then baseboards so they can be put in at the correct height. Depending on your needs and budget baseboards can be made of real wood or vinyl that looks like wood but can be painted.
Your Base board can be laid first without the Gap or with the Gap a true carpet installer will make it work. I wouldn't worry about it seeing that you have no reason to bury carpet under a baseboard. Carpet only should fit snug up to baseboards an walls. No one runs carpet under walls why would you run your carpet under your baseboard get a clarification on this an ask your carpet installer why he wants it done this way. You shouldn't replace baseboards every time you replace carpet either. Now if this was hard wood floors or such then yeah you need to have it go all the way to the wall.
Capet goes first, cuz if you ( or some body else ) instals baseboards fisrt and they are to close to the floor, then the carpet will not go under it as it should. Once the carpet is in place, then you come with the baseboard, pine, oak, plastic ( which is one of the newest materials for baseboard ) then sinply go on top of the carpet, not worring about the high, ( thickness of the carpet ) then finish it with a nice line of caulking. Even netter if you plan to paint the walls after, but if not, just make sure you clean nice the caulking whit a wet clean rag ti leave a nice finish. make sure the caulking it's NOT silicon, as silicon it's more dificult to clean, unless you know about it; then you know you can clean silicon with a damped rag in mineral spirits, but if you are not familiar with this, don't even try, specillay with you'r new carpet in place. At least this is the best way works for my, and I have had doing it many times.
