Base molding is a protective strip applied to walls where they meet the floor, designed to protect from furniture and other objects. It also hides gaps and provides access to the area behind the wall. Chair rails protect walls from chair backs. Commercial base moldings are usually plastic and less decorative than residential ones. Installation is simple, with a 4-inch board as the main element. Additional pieces can be added for decoration. The molding is stained or painted.
Base molding is a protective covering applied to a wall where it meets a floor. Designed primarily to protect the base of a wall from damage when struck by furniture and other objects, base molding also provides relatively easy access to the area behind the wall when a gap has been left between the bottom edge of the wall and the flooring. While a strip of wood about 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) wide is all that is generally needed, decorative additions are added in nearly every residential application and most commercial applications as well.
When interior walls are erected within a structure, they are usually made of plasterboard attached to vertical wooden or metal beams called studs. In many cases, the ceiling height is actually slightly more than the standard 8 feet (2.44 meters). In this case, the drywall is placed against the ceiling, which has already been installed, and a gap is left between the wall and the floor. Base molding is essential to hide this gap. Also, if future work requires access, it is sometimes possible to simply remove the baseboard rather than drilling a hole in the wall itself.
While drywall provides structure for the interior space, it’s not very strong. It will break easily if hit by furniture being moved or many other objects, such as vacuum cleaners being pushed hard. Even if the drywall doesn’t crack, a hard blow, such as from a hammer, will crush the plaster contents of the drywall, sometimes cracking the surface of the paper and leaving an unsightly dimple that will require repair. Because the possibility of such damaging contact is greatest near the floor, due to furniture movement, base molding is routinely installed, even when there is no gap to hide.
The walls of residences and some commercial spaces are also often protected by a molding called a chair rail, which is a strip of wood or plastic measuring 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) wide to 6 inches (12.7 centimeters) wide. installed between 32 inches (81.28 centimeters) and 40 inches (1.016 meters) from the floor, to protect the wall from damage that could be inflicted when chair backs contact the wall. Most residential applications also have molding installed where the wall meets the ceiling, but this is decorative in nature.
Basic moldings in commercial spaces are generally not as decorative as those found in residences and often consist of nothing more than a piece of flexible molded plastic that is attached to the wall using an adhesive. These base moldings are extremely strong and durable and will withstand the impact of cleaning equipment and moved furniture even better than their wooden counterparts.
Installing the base molding is relatively simple. In most cases, the most important item is a board measuring 0.5 inches (1.25cm) thick by 4 inches (10.16cm) wide, cut to size for the wall it will be installed on. If the wall is too long for a single length of board, two pieces are joined by a simple butt joint. Once the main element has been installed with its bottom edge in direct contact with the floor, additional pieces are added. In many cases, a single quarter-round piece will be installed where the bottom edge of the base meets the floor, and another piece—sometimes a quarter-round, sometimes ogee, and sometimes some other figure, is installed at the top edge of the base. basis. There’s an almost unlimited selection of designs to choose from, and there’s not even any requirement that the main element be a 4 x 0.5 inch (10.16 x 1.25 centimeter) board, as long as the primary purpose of protecting the is achieved the joint where the wall meets the floor. Once installed, the base molding is stained or painted.
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