Half Bath Renovation: Base Molding… Part Shoe

If you have carpet, chances are you probably only have a base molding if any at all. However, for hard surfaces there is usually another piece attached… the shoe molding.
 
When we set about to locate the proper base and shoe molding, we did so with the intention of replicating the look found throughout our house’s hardwood floors. This, my friends, was no easy task. Then again, it probably wasn’t easy because we were searching for the easy stuff, you know, already primed and ready to paint. It never occurred to us that the molding we were looking for was actually stain grade molding even though we knew that our original molding had been stained at one time. However, once this crisis was averted and we located the correct materials we had a whole new set of crises to deal with, like how to cut and install everything. Thank goodness for the internet!

So yesterday I wrote about installing the base molding and today is about the shoe molding. It being smaller, one might assume it would be easier to install than the base, and fortunately one would be correct in their assumption… to a point. Shoe molding, being smaller, will split if you simply nail it in. What is a person to do when faced with this particular dilemma? Find the smallest drill bit you have and pre-drill holes for the nails to go into. I found the 1/16th inch drill bit perfect as it was slightly smaller than the finishing nails and did not split the wood at all. I probably should have pre-drilled a few areas on the base molding to prevent some of those cracks, but didn’t think it was necessary until it was too late. Figures. I guess that is what painter’s putty is for, right? More on that later.

After the first piece was cut to size and pre-drilled it was ready to be nailed into place. I used a very small amount of Liquid Nails from a caulking gun to help stabilize the piece while it was being nailed in. After I had nailed the first piece of shoe molding into place I realized I only drilled holes at the studs, just like with the base molding, but neglected to drill any at either end to keep those areas in place. So with it mostly nailed in I grabbed the drill and made holes on either side to keep those sections where we wanted them. Hey, this is all a learning experience. The rest of the pieces went by in the same fashion, with the exception that I did remember to drill holes on each end as well as the stud marks, except for that last section. Do you remember yesterday I wrote about that tiny little piece of base molding that had to go into that tiny little space between the door and wall on one side? Well, the shoe molding is even smaller. Fortunately it was also way easier to put in, but is only glued on with Liquid Nails, just like the base molding it is attached to. Hopefully that will be enough to keep it in place.

Once all the shoe molding was installed and nailed in, I took a nail setter to countersink the nails into the molding before applying painter’s putty to them. After it was dry, and I used this fabulous stuff that goes on pink and turns white when it is dry so I don’t have to guess when it is ready, I sanded the putty down and using a small paint brush painted over the putty to hide the nail marks. I also painted a thin layer where the base and shoe molding meet because there were some very thin spaces in a few areas, and it would make it look like it was all one piece. Then I used a white caulk where the base meets the wall and where the corner pieces meet, smoothing it out with my fingers, and also used colored caulking, the same as our grout, to caulk where the shoe meets the slate floor.

Now the room is so close to being finished and the next step is the toilet and possibly a new sink. We’ll see how aggressive I get today.