Vinyl Baseboard

A Vinyl Baseboard is the Perfect Finish for well Trafficked Areas



Lots of people both in their place of business and in their home too, are installing a vinyl baseboard, especially in those areas that take a certain amount of heavy footfall. It’s a great way of tidying up the appearance of a reception area, and making sure that it stays in pristine condition.

Up until recent years, baseboards, (materials that are fixed to the bottom of the wall, where the wall meets the floor), have been made out of wood. These wooden baseboards are sometimes called skirting boards, and they were developed to match dado rails, or picture rails that adorn the walls of many houses, particularly older houses and apartments built in the early 1960s and before.

But of course fashions change as we all know, and picture rails come and go with current trends, and so does the use of skirting boards, or wooden baseboards.



Wood was the chosen material because it is both a natural building material and it is quite cheap, although it does have additional cost elements attached to it such as the painting or varnishing of any exposed surfaces for decorative purposes. But the contemporary use of a vinyl option is becoming more and more popular, and manufacturers have responded by making more and more rolls of the stuff in various colors and designs, so you now have a great range to choose from.

Vinyl baseboard has several advantages over its wooden counterpart. Firstly, because it is so flexible, it is much easier to fit around things like curves, whereas a wooden board would have to be “packed out”. It’s much easier to cut; wood of course has to be sawed, but vinyl is easily cut with a pallet knife. Like wood, vinyl hides small blemishes in the wall, and it is more resistant to getting scuffed, which is quite important in areas of heavy traffic. It is also nice and easy to clean; just wipe it down from time to time with warm water and little soap or vinegar. Lastly it endures, with little need of maintenance beyond the odd wipe down, whereas wood baseboard needs sanding down and repainting.

Installing vinyl baseboards is simple and straightforward. Before you start, make sure that the wall area that is to be your substrate, is as clean and smooth as possible. Just wash it down with some warm soapy water, and use a small putty knife to get rid of any blemishes.

It is best to start from an inside corner and work your way out. You should begin by cutting a square end, but be aware that many buildings are not absolutely “true”, so you may have to trim the vinyl slightly to fit nice and snugly; but that after all is one of the major advantages of using a vinyl baseboard – the fact that it is nice and easy to trim. It is important to make sure that the ends of the vinyl that you will be butting up against one another should also be cut perfectly square.



There are just two more small but important things to bear mind when installing a vinyl base baseboard. Firstly when you are going into a corner jut make your cut a little oversize. It’s easy to trim it back slightly, whereas if it’s undersize, it’s scrap. Secondly, use a good quality vinyl adhesive.

Choose one that gives you good adhesion, but that allows you a little maneuverability before it goes off. If unsure, ask your baseboard supplier for a recommendation.

A well installed vinyl baseboard just adds that nice finished look wherever it is applied, and has a maintenance free life. Why not go online and check out the great choice now available?



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