# How tall does base trim need to be?



## bova80 (Feb 18, 2013)

TrailerParadise said:


> How tall does baseboard trim need to be?
> The ones i found instore are usually about 5" tall but really thin and i was told you are supposed to buy quarter rounds too.
> But i found some trim at Surplus Warehouse that says it can be used for floors, doors, windows, and ceilings. They have a contractor pack of it, 8 sticks, 8' long, for $45. But this trim is only 1.5" tall. Is that too short for drywall base trim?
> 
> (Its also about 1/2" thick and would eliminate the need for quarter rounds)


as tall or short as you want it to be. And you don't need quarter round unless you want it.


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

Our house (built in the 70's) has 3 1/4" trim. When I think of five or six inch molding, I imagine older Victorian homes with large rooms.

I'm no expert, but I think 1 1/2" would look weird and too narrow.


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## TrailerParadise (Jan 3, 2013)

the trim im talking about looks very similar to this, same height and style, from the top down to that thin line above the tile on the right


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## Amateuralex (Mar 17, 2012)

I think it's whatever you want it to be. Whatever covers the gaps that you want to cover. If your floor is uneven, the super flexible quarter round as an addition can reduce the visibility of that.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

You don't say what is on the floor carpet, tile, hardwood. To be honest doesn't sound like a real good deal you can go to the depot and get a contractors pack of real base that won't look weird for about the same price or less. And the shoe mould is for the gap under your base in case the floor is not perfectly level and gives it a finished look. But no you don't have to use it.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Buy your base molding (which is generally about twice the width of your door casing, or a little larger.) in all 16' pieces. Not 8' pieces.

Cut all your longer runs first as one solid piece if possible. Put the cut-offs aside somewhere. (Keep them in stacks of approximate similar lengths... leaning against a wall close to your saw so you are constantly reminded that they are there to select from.) Then choose from the longest left-overs for subsequent runs... putting THOSE cut-offs in appropriately sized stacks too. Always looking for the longest runs you can locate.

You will be surprised at how using your head like this, you will end up eventually using pretty much all the pieces as you ALWAYS cut the longest remaining runs from your left-overs.

And it's a fair bet you'll have a lot more left over than you had first anticipated.

But, never, ever give in to the temptation to whack off a short piece from a nice long stick of left-over. Find a place, somewhere in the house, where those longer left-overs will fit almost perfectly.

Remember, you do NOT have to finish running any given wall just because you have a 16" laid down there, almost spanning the wall. Leave it alone until one of your future cut-offs will work out to be just about the perfect piece for that space.


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## funfool (Oct 5, 2012)

The typical baseboard trim will be 2 1/4" tall. I know some may argue that door and window casing is different then baseboard. I say it is not different.
When I was ordering trim for new homes, I assure you it was all the same and was no pile of baseboard here and window trim there when it arrived. 
Was all the same.

That being said, you can look at baseboard trim, you will find the more exotic looks like you posted, 5" tall and such. Just standard door and window trim will be fine.
8' pieces of trim I would run away from.

Walk around the place and measure the walls. You want to figure out 10% more for waste.
You want to have long enough trim to cover one wall without a splice. 16' is the best length to purchase. 
I just finished up some baseboard and we are using 1x4 mdf, Longest I could find was 10' pieces.
I once did a bathroom of mine with used 1x6 3 rail horse fence. You could see where the horses had chewed on it while waiting to be fed in the morning. Use what you want, is no exact size.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

BTW, the heavy-duty designers say 7% is the rule. I think that is a bit of overkill, and think it should be more like 5%.

That percentage is a % of your overall room height. A 96" room..... @7%=6.7". At 5%, it's 4.8".

And I think crown should be 3.5%.


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

I somehow suspect that you won't care about this, but there may be some people on here for whom this will resonate. They know who they are.

I'm talking about the architectural aspect ratio that balances nature and most pleases the eye. The Golden Ratio.

The Golden Ratio is a term (with an astounding number of aliases, including Golden Section and Golden Mean) used to describe aesthetically pleasing proportioning within a piece. However, it is not merely a term -- it is an actual ratio.

In its most simple form, the Golden Ratio is 1:_phi_. (*Not* _pi_ / π / 3.14... / "pie," but _p*h*i_ [pronounced "fie"].) _Phi_ is represented by the lower-case Greek letter φ. Its numeric equivalent is 1.618... which means its decimal stretches to infinity and never repeats (much like _pi_). _The DaVinci Code_ had it wrong when the protagonist assigned an "exact" value of 1.618 to _phi_.

_Phi_ also performs amazing feats of derring-do in Trigonometry and quadratic equations, and can even be used to write a recursive algorithm when programming software. But let's get back to aesthetics.

The easiest way to picture the Golden Ratio is by looking at a rectangle with a width of 1, and a length of 1.168... . If you were to draw a line in this plane so that one square and one rectangle resulted, the square's sides would have the ratio of 1:1. And the "leftover" rectangle? It would be exactly proportionate to the original rectangle: 1:1.618. You could draw another line in this smaller rectangle, again leaving a square and a rectangle whose proportions were 1:1.618. You can keep doing this until you're left with an indecipherable blob; the ratio continues on in a downward pattern regardless.

Rectangles and squares are the most clear example, but the Golden Ratio can be applied to any number of geometric forms including circles, triangles, pyramids, prisms, and polygons. It's just a question of applying the correct math. Some artists -- especially architects -- are very good at this, while others are not.

All math aside, an unknown genius figured out millennia ago that, in a work of art or architecture, if one maintained a ratio of small elements to larger elements that was the same as the ratio of larger elements to the whole, the end result was extraordinarily pleasing to the eye. (Indeed, we now have scientific evidence that our brains are hard-wired to recognize this pattern.) It worked when the Egyptians built their pyramids, it has worked in sacred geometry throughout history, and it continues to work today.


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## mae-ling (Dec 9, 2011)

Have worked in houses with no baseboard, just drywall then carpet! yep bad bad idea as the vacuum bumps the wall an leaves dings.
Many places I haver been use 2&1/4 for baseboards and casing in the same style. Have also installed 1.5" casing and bse in some houses, and 6" wide in another, so it really is up to you and the look you want/can afford.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

Have never seen a house with base and casing the same size, I don't think, doesn't seem like it would look to appealing. But hey I wasn't there. I do a lot of trim work and I feel you can overdo a room with trim, like put a large crown in a room with 8' ceilings. But on the other hand I think you can under trim a room, in some cases none would be better. As to the poster a question I think we all forgot to ask, including me, is what is on your doors and windows and is there crown mould. I think this would be a factor in sizing the base.


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## TrailerParadise (Jan 3, 2013)

That picture i posted is what is around the doors and windows and what i had planned to put down on the floors. The ceilings arent decided yet, im still trying to find something that isnt obnoxious that will be long enough to nail into the top plate. No crown. 16' pieces arent even an option for me, i only have a car and even 8' pieces would have to ride between the front seats in order to fit. I would actually rather go with 6' pieces but they dont sell them that short. I had to pay my dad to go to Lowes just to get a new door because it wouldnt fit in my car. Also the reason i decided to make my own cabinets. i guess i can just use the same trim. To be honest i could probably use the same trim at the top as well, if it didnt look too stupid.
Also, my ceilings are only 7' high on the sides. The middle is 8'


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## TrailerParadise (Jan 3, 2013)

ToolSeeker, the new homes that are built around here do have the same trim around doors and windows and on the floors, but the builders around here use pretty cheap materials. The cabinets are all particleboard with veneer, the floor is generic carpet, they dont even paint the walls. You get the house, mudded and taped, carpet laid, and thats it. Some builders wont even do flooring for you. In one house my parents bought, we lived on bare plywood floors for a year until we finally laid tile squares, and we had to put the trim down ourselves. Of course it matched the door casings and window casings.


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## ToolSeeker (Sep 19, 2012)

If you really want 6' pieces go to the depot unlike Lowe's you can buy what length you need if you need a 4' piece you can buy a 4' piece you don't have to buy 8'.


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## bubbler (Oct 18, 2010)

Willie T said:


> I somehow suspect that you won't care about this, but there may be some people on here for whom this will resonate. They know who they are.


Thank you Willie T ... very interesting post :thumbsup:


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## Davejss (May 14, 2012)

I like a 1x5 with an ogee bed molding on top. It ends up about 5-1/4" tall. It's easy to miter and cope and I think they look a little better than stock base moldings. It's my preferred method unless the customer or architectural design dictates otherwise.
I've seen 2-1/2" colonial casing and other window trim used as base. It always makes me queasy.


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## RWolff (Jan 27, 2013)

Asking how tall the trim _should be_ is like askign what color the walls in your living room should be, the answer is: whatever height/size/style *you* like the looks of, after all, you are the one who is living in the house so don't buy baseboards based on what someone else likes, or what some claim is the current "style" this week.


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