Baseboard Installation for Carpet

Baseboard trim installation is one thing that just anyone can do.

But baseboard installation for carpet is a bit different than the norm. Some carpenters place the trim down to the subfloor or to the wood flooring. This is not a good idea and will in most cases make it tougher on the carpet layers. SO here is a guide for installing baseboard trim in a room where carpeting is either expected or known to be on the agenda.

For this task, you will need the usual tools plus a handful of short pieces of baseboaed that are cut in 2 or 3 inch pieces. You’ll see why in a minute. The first thing you’ll want to do is measure the length if the walls and get your trim cut to length. That part is standard and won’t change. If you will be coping the corners, go get your coping saw or use my method of coping and get your dremel. Otherwise, grab your miter box and follow along.

Installation

After you have the first piece of baseboard trim cut to length, hopefully starting with the longest wall, decide whether you will miter the inside corners at 45 degrees or cope them. Make your cuts accordingly and lay this first piece by the wall where it will be installed. For a room that will be carpeted after the baseboard trim is installed, you want to leave a space between the base floor and the bottom edge of the trim. This is where the short pieces of baseboard come into play. This will allow for the height of the carpet and give a nice, flush finished look.

Now take a few of those short baseboard pieces and place them flat on the floor along the wall.

Then place the baseboard on top of these. Now you have the trim in place with a space off the floor, the thickness of the baseboard which is approximately 3/8 of an inch.

Position the trim into place and nail to the wall at the stud locations in the wall.

All you need to so now is go along that wall and fasten the remainder of the trim as you normally would. This is the basic method for baseboard installation for carpet applications. Once the trim is fastened, remove the short baseboard pieces and move these along as you install the baseboard. These can be reused over and over again, so hold onto them.

The only thing that is different than any other baseboard installation is the small rise above the base floor. When the carpet is installed, that is more easily tucked into place beneath the trim. This gives a nice, professional look to the trim. It looks as if the trim was installed after the fact and you should be very happy with the overall look when you are finished.

Conclusion

Baseboard installation for carpet is no different than any finish carpentry task. You just need to do a little planning and preparation. The end result will be a great looking job. This method of baseboard installation for carpet is simple, easy and requires no special tools other than the short baseboard pieces that you can make.

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