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 |  | Medium: $170-$400 per room installed |  | High: $300-$800 per room installed |
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Also called base trim or base molding, baseboard is both attractive and functional. It can add a subtle but important final touch to a room's style while covering the gap between the flooring and wall. It also protects the wall's finish from vacuum cleaners, furniture scrapes and other bumps or kicks.
Typical costs: |
- Baseboards vary from a simple 1-inch-high round "shoe" molding to 6 inches high, with finishes ranging from plain to a sloped, grooved or rounded design. The taller and more elaborate the baseboard, the greater the cost.
- At 65-90 cents a linear foot, wood composite (MDF) baseboards 2-4 inches high average$50-$75 uninstalled for 80 feet in a 20x20-foot living room or $325-$450 for 500 feet in an average two-story home. Composite baseboards 5-6 inches high run $1.50-$2 a linear foot, making it about $120-$160 uninstalled for 80 feet and $750-$1,000 for an average-sized home.
- Prices run 85 cents-$150 for 3-4 inches high or $1.50-$2.25 for 5-6 inches high for baseboards of inexpensive woods such as pine or poplar, which works out to about $70-$180 uninstalled for a living room, or $425-$1,125 uninstalled for an average-sized home.
- It's about $2.80-$7 or more a foot depending on height and style for baseboards of solid cherry, mahogany, walnut or other high-end wood, averaging $225-$560 for a living room or $1,400-$3,500 for an average-sized home.
- Costs are $1.80-$8 a foot, depending on style and height, for polyurethane baseboards that are impervious to moisture, won't rot or crack over time and can be painted just like wood; it's about $144-$640 for a living room and $900-$4,000 for an average-sized home.
- Professional installation starts around $1.50-$2 a linear foot when included as part of a larger flooring or remodeling job, or $2-$4 for a stand-alone trim installation--making it $120-$320 for labor for a living room, or $750-$2,000 for for an average-sized home. If an older house has uneven floors and corners or unusual obstacles, installers may charge materials plus labor at $45-$65 an hour.
Related articles: Hardwood Floors, Refinishing a Hardwood Floor, Crown Molding, Carpet
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What should be included: |
- Installing baseboards is a relatively simple project, but requires careful measurements and precise cutting. HGTV.com provides instructions and Kelleher.com[1] gives a clear explanation of the "coping" joints needed to make some corners look good.
- The Family Handyman explains how to install baseboard on crooked or lumpy walls.
- The Stanley Complete Trimwork & Carpentry book[2] at $19.95 covers all types of trim molding projects.
Additional costs: |
- Installers often charge $45-$65 an hour to remove old baseboard. If the original baseboard was not installed properly, it can be painstaking work to remove it without damaging the walls.
- For remodeling situations, moving furniture out of the way may cost extra.
- If doing it yourself, there's always some waste involved, so buy at least 10 percent more baseboard than needed.
Shopping for baseboards: |
- Buy the best quality baseboard you can afford; the better the material, the better it will look when the project's done.
- Lowe's[3] sells a range of base moldings and offers installation services. Baseboard can also be ordered online from Hardwood-Moldings.com[4] and Vintage Woodworks[5] .
- Installation referrals are available through most flooring or hardware stores.
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What People Are Paying - Recent Comments |
| Posted by: RedMist in Middlebury, IN. | Posted: December 15th, 2017 12:12PM |
| Contractor: Self Build |
Installing a mixture of 8", 4", and 2" baseboard at 900' and 3" door casings for 15 doors. Price is for raw wood which I will paint. No installation costs as I will bee doing it myself. The wood is being purchased from a small Amish shop near me. The wood profile is very simple with a 1/4" radius on one corner. I realize I could likely find less expensive wood elsewhere; however, I like their quality and service. |
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| Posted by: CrownInstaller in Clearwater, FL. | Posted: August 10th, 2016 10:08AM |
Base boards speed and quality goes with the talent of the installer. In most cases the installer is buying their materials wholesale.
I can do around 800 feet in four to six hours if there is noting in my way. big box stores charge average here $2.12 per linear foot for base boards. I charge $2.40 per linear foot. (5 1/4" base)I can do it because I buy from a volume wholesaler. your contractor packs are only 12' giving you a greater chance for seams and increasing the waste.
as for your MDF and particle board base, I will not touch that crap. I back all my materials and labor and those are a complete waste of your money. They don't last. |
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| Posted by: Dwayne Howard in Arlington, TX. | Posted: November 27th, 2012 10:11PM |
| Number of Rooms: 10 | Type: |
| Contractor: Just Asking |
The last line of information under "Typical Costs" should have been left out, or posted correctly. It'd take a whole crew of carpenters to install 500 feet of baseboard in half a day ! They won't be doing that for $520, much less for $180. |
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| Posted by: Handy Andy in Jacksonville, NC. | Posted: December 3rd, 2009 08:12AM |
| Number of Rooms: 3 | Type: Generic Base |
| Contractor: Lowes |
Just wanted to add...its a lot cheaper to buy a contractor pack of molding at lowes. Individual pieces will run you around $6-8 each. A contractor pack with 120 linear feet runs $44! HUGE difference. So make sure you ask for the pack. |
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| Posted by: Black River Construction in Hartland, MI. | Posted: September 24th, 2009 07:09AM |
In the paragraph on installation costs it states professional installation starts at $1.50 per linear foot. This seems correct, however at the end of the paragraph it states a 500 linear foot project should cost $180.00 to $520.00 for labor. At $1.50 per linear foot the job would start at $750.00 for labor. |
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External Resources: |
- www.kelleher.com/documents/Coping.pdf
- www.amazon.com/Complete-Trimwork-Carpentry-Stanley/dp/0696221144
- www.lowes.com/pl_Flooring_4294934373__s?Ntt=base%20molding&Ntk=i_products
- www.hardwood-moldings.com/
- www.vintagewoodworks.com/baseboards.html
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