Do you remove baseboards for the carpet or hard surface installation process?
Here is a transcription, if you prefer to read instead:
"Questions about baseboard are asked all the time, sometimes four, five times a day. There’s a lot of questions around baseboards, like who removes them, who re-installs them, who paints them or touches them up, and with what type of flooring do you need to have them taken off to begin with? Well, pretty simple. Almost always, with carpeting, they don’t have to come off at all. Since they don’t have to come off, they don’t have to go back on either, which saves you a lot of effort. However, whenever installing carpeting, the baseboards do get a little bit of a nick, some nicks on them all around the perimeter during the installation of carpeting. The tools really don’t come in contact with the baseboards, it’s the backing of the carpet that’s pretty coarse, and during the installation, that’s when the baseboards get nicked up from the backing. So, you as the homeowner or building owner are responsible for finding someone to get those touched up. Now, with cork flooring, bamboo flooring, laminate, hardwood, ceramic, and porcelain tile, as well as vinyl, it is recommended that the baseboards come off. With those floors, like we talked about, with cork, bamboo, laminate, and hardwood, there is an expansion joint left around the perimeter close to the wall, so that those floors can continue to expand and contract. The baseboards act as a cover for that expansion joint. So, when they come off, we will number them, we will put them back on for you, if that’s what you choose for us to do and then you’ll have to have someone come in, or find someone to come in and paint, and caulk those baseboards for you again. Ceramic tile, same thing, but in that case it is more optional. We recommend that they come off and go back on, but it’s completely up to you. Again, with ceramic tile and porcelain flooring, there is no expansion and contraction. It is not really required, it just looks better when it is done that way, it’s a cleaner finish. Also, as far as door jambs are concerned, door jambs, we definitely need to have those undercut whenever installing any of the above floors again. Ceramic, porcelain, cork, bamboo, laminate, hardwood, and vinyl, typically it’s a really good idea to go ahead and undercut those door jambs with a special undercut saw, so that way that floor has a finished look around those door jambs.”
