Baseboards

Does it seem to you that accessories are something you can do without - optional, decorative, and not serving any practical purpose?  In some other areas that may well be true, but when it comes to installing floor coverings, accessories are a very important element.

You may have noticed how an experienced master-layer of parquet leaves the proper gaps between the edges of the pieces and the walls, as well as pipes, columns, thresholds…  A piece of parquet has some play – it expands and contracts depending on the temperature and humidity, which you cannot always maintain at the same level.   These gaps are provided in order to prevent the formation of bubbles, wrinkles and other distorting phenomena.  Now, just imagine – a chic, expensive natural parquet, a rare pattern, glistening with a lacquered surface… and right at the joint of the wall with the floor –a crack, the bare concrete floor!  Such a thing is unacceptable from the purely esthetic point of view, and even from the practical – spots like that collect household dust and are a Bermuda Triangle for various little everyday items that, by some miracle, disappear into those cracks.   For all of these reasons it is necessary choose the accessories – baseboards, thresholds, rings around pipes – appropriate to the parquet, laminate, hardwood flooring; even linoleum or simply plank flooring.  They may be selected in the basic tone of the flooring material or the walls, or may be chosen to contrast with them.

            Choosing the baseboards isn’t so complicated since a smaller number of firms manufactures them as opposed to hardwood flooring or laminate.  However, aside from the natural elements of choice – price, color, materials, - you should also consider the height of the baseboard.  If you have high ceilings, then the baseboard should be no smaller than 5 cm, otherwise all of its decorative essence is destroyed – people just won’t notice it.

            Baseboards are classified by material: plastic (PVC foam), solid and veneered, and even MDF (medium density fiberboard).  All of them are used under different conditions: for every floor covering, there is a corresponding category of baseboard.

            Plastic baseboards are less natural, but stronger, simpler to install, and do not deform with humidity.  On the back side there is a hollowed out space for wires, while on the front side there may be a groove to accommodate cloth carpet.  Baseboards made from PVC are even compatible with linoleum and laminate.  Frequently, their front sides mimic the patterns of wood species.  In addition, because of their flexibility, plastic baseboards are easy to adjust when the wall is uneven, and they adhere more closely to it.

            The classic type of baseboard, and which is appropriate for hardwood flooring, is manufactured from solid wood.  Beautiful, environmentally friendly, and healthy.  But, just as with the hardwood flooring itself, this type of baseboard can crack and swell (depending on the humidity), and then totally lose its form and buckle.

            The veneered baseboard is made from an inexpensive species of wood – fir or pine, and covered on top with a veneer made from a more expensive wood species.  A baseboard like this is significantly cheaper than a solid one, and stronger.

            MDF is an increasingly popular material among manufactured building products.  It is almost the same as particleboard, only pressed by vacuum methods and does not contain phenol or epoxide resins.  A baseboard made of MDF is more environmentally friendly and more resistant to changes in atmospheric humidity.  Its mounting characteristics allow for easy dismantling and return to the original location, if necessary.  The only drawback is that an MDF baseboard is not resistant to external damage.  It is ideally paired with laminate, especially if the walls consist of decorative panels also made from MDF.

            In summary, let us note that the choice isn’t so great, so that making it will not be difficult.  Just consider the accessories to be a necessary part of your remodeling budget, and you will not go wrong.