Carpentry and Woodworking - baseboard moulding

replacing new carpeting in whole house. currently have 2" mahoghany baseboard to be replaced with 3.5" coronado baseboard. Do I lay the baseboard on the floor or leave raise slightly for the carpet to go under? If raised, what do I do on hardwood and tile adjoining rooms where it will not be raised?

Id leave the baseboard off until after the carpet is installed, for one reason. Crpet is put down with a tack strip around the room to allow the installer to stretch and hold the carpet in place. This tack strip makes it virtually impossible to place a bookscase up against a wall without shimming the front; the tack strip rasies the back.

Installing the baseboard last will cover part of the tack strip, at least alleviating part of the problem.

PS - if you raise the baseboard you shouldn't have a problem. Whether it's a cased opening or a regular door, baseboard doesn't normally go THROUGH a doorway - it stops at the trim framing the door (or doorway).

Ordinarily, base is installed 1/2" above the floor for carpeting. The carpet will fill the space. On hard surface floors the base can be lower, but the quarter round sits on the floor after installation. There is no quarter round on carpet.

I am making this reply about 5 years too late for bubckeyecal but just in case anyone else happens along here:
the first answer does not take into consideration a wall that runs the length of two different rooms. Like my dining room wall, which runs uninterrupted into the kitchen. In the diningroom the base is above the carpet, in the kitchen the base is above the vinyl flooring - two quite different thicknesses and exactly what bubckeyecal was asking about. george completely blew that answer. 2nd, quarter round is not necessary if the base is thick enough to cover the join of the solid flooring at the wall. mostly quarter round is used to cover flooring installed up to the base.
hammering away in Sausalito

bt - I agree about your first point. That's a little tougher situation. Maybe some kind of plinth block at the end of the vinyl floor to disguise the transition from carpet to vinyl? Or how about ripping the trim down a little shorter in the room with the carpet so the top of the trim stays in the same plane through both rooms?

On your second point, personally, I think quarter round looks better whether it's needed or not. It gives the room a more 'finished' look.

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First let me say that the trim at the floor in NOT quarter round! It is(or should be)shoe moulding. The reason for the shoe moulding was that as the floors, wall, base or whatever expanded and contracted, there would never be a gap. The shoe mould should be attached to the floor while the base is attached to the wall thereby creating a moveable trim to hide any imperfections.

Next, base is not usually applied on top of the carpet for the reason that if it were, you could not get the carpet out to replace it later. You CAN raise the baseboard a little to match the base in the rooms with no carpet, but the tack strip should be outside the base.
As for furniture againnst the wall, it really shouldn't be that close. The tack strip is only about 1 inch wide.

George is right about the base usually stopping at the doors. The only exception I can think of is an opening that is drywalled/plastered like an archway with no trim. Even then, I would stop the base and return it on itself.

Just my opinion!

Shoe mold nailed to the floor? Really? I'm not a professional but I've never heard of that. I would think you'd nail it to the base molding so the floor can move underneath it and you'll never see a gap between the two. If you had painted trim then you'd see a dark gap around you're trim come and go as the floor moves and contracts over time.

Shoe mold nailed to the floor? Really? I'm not a professional but I've never heard of that. I would think you'd nail it to the base molding so the floor can move underneath it and you'll never see a gap between the two. If you had painted trim then you'd see a dark gap around you're trim come and go as the floor moves and contracts over time.

The shoe moulding is to HIDE the gap in the event that the floor moves.

Never heard of shoe (or 1/4 round) nailed to the floor. What's the point, if the floor moves, then you have a gap between base and shoe/1/4 round. If you nail to the base, then you have the bottom width of the shoe/1/4 round to cover the expansion gap.

btw...1/4 round was used extensively where I used to work. I didn't like the look, but it was used. Matter of fact..most of the prefinished and flooring matched stuff (Pergo, Bruce, etc) was 1/4 round..not shoe.