Not a pro or carpenter, but I've done many renovations, including custom baseboards after installing new hardwood floors...and I know a bad install when I see it. It does look like an afterthought and it is awful; 3 million home or not, it shouldn't be there! Did they make some kind of mistake and were trying to cover it up? You have every right to ask them to correct this. I hope some carpenters will chime in.

It’s not a bad install. It’s typical for the products specified. You could have opted for no shoe which is generally an upgrade but something we often specify for homes with a modern aesthetic.
Shoe

No shoe

No shoe has to be planned for in coordination with the flooring and millwork contractors

Typically door casing would be thicker than base trim and that would help with the "Shoe" being able to somewhat die into the casing.

This has been an issue with the shift to flat casings all around. Door casings used to tend to be thicker on the outer edge and thicker than the baseboard. However the rounded base shoe or quarter round was often beveled on the portion that protruded past the casing.

IMO in a 3 million $ house there should have been the proper door casing done to work with the baseboard or better yet no shoe on properly done flooring and drywall.

Thank you everyone. We specified these straight 1x7 baseboards and they agreed but never mentioned a shoe mold…. till it was in. I had them take them off, but the floor doesn’t go to the end and there are gaps. But as the customer, that’s not my fault. So the only answer I see is redoing the floor at every edge and replacing the baseboards on top. Is it the floor contractor’s responsibility to go to the edge? Shoe mold just seems like a 69 cent way to mask a crappy job. It’s patchwork over a problem that shouldn’t exist. Maybe for a remodel. But not a new build. right???

@Patricia Colwell Consulting 100%

@kellierandle, yup, what I said earlier, what were they covering up with the shoe molding? Apparently short cuts. I have had that happen before and they tried to fill in with wood filler/putty...nope! Take the flooring all the way to the wall, then the baseboards on top.

Not with the custom build team and the price I’m paying. I already have extra thick casing around doors. They just didn’t think this through. A good contractor would pre-plan. I can see patching mistakes in a remodel. But for a new build, they should have thought through this issue in the year we planned and designed. All my photos and look book we did together had no shoe mold. They didn’t sequence right and now it’s patching mistakes. I can’t accept it. It looks like an after thought! Even if they replace with a bigger, thicker baseboard, the base will protrude out past the door casing. And that’s not correct. I agree in remodels you have to give and take. But not in new builds. You should get what you design.

What would you propose they do at this point, rip and replace the flooring throughout the house? Did you specify no shoe moulding (was there a detail drawing of the trim), as shoe is pretty typical? And that casing does not look to be extra thick to me. At the end of the day someone will need to give in here, just pointing that out.

yes…. I’m hoping they can replace the floor at all the edges. And yes, there was a lot of documentation of the trim. many photos that we agreed on over the year and a half of planning and designing. And selections approved in “buildertrend” app. So many photos and discussions. But they must not have trickled down to the on-site builders. First we EVER saw the shoe mold was when it was already installed. It came out of nowhere.

If you have documentation via Buildertrend, then the fix is on them.

Is the floor already finished? Is it finished on site or prefinished? If it was finished on site and the floor is already done how are they going to add the board to the wall and make it look good ?

I don’t know how they’re going to fix it. But that’s why I hired them and I’m not building it myself!! I just wanted to confirm from other professionals that this shoe mold looks like an afterthought/ patchwork when being used with 1x8 flat casings in a modern new build. It’s not a remodel, so to get the straight flat look we wanted, they should have addressed it differently. This is the photo we agreed on and is in our “look book” that we officially signed off on.

I feel for You, went trough built myself and I am not going even to tell you how stressful it was. There was plenty of issues but we were on site everyday and were able to catch and correct many. I have the baseboard the way you wanted.

Start planning what you take as a discount as they will tell you to pound sand before they will rip out all the flooring, and probably replace with all new, as that is what will need to happen or you will end up with a bunch of short pieces faced nails.

I agree with you that Shoe moulding is ugly and if you have the luxury of planning not to have it, that's how it should have been installed. Again, agree with you that it's not your problem or your fault and they needed to do a better job at installation. You shouldn't have to live with that every day because they didn't do it right to begin with. So sorry this happened on your new home!

@kellierandle do you have an update on what happened with your baseboards? I am curious how your contractor resolved this. I agree that shoe moulding never should have been used and is not the standard, or even typical, on a new build.

@Kristin Petro Interiors, Inc. the second pic you posted, ”no shoe”, can you please share flooring info? type and company? they are beautiful.

If the flooring went in when baseboards were already installed (e.g., floors are being replaced), d install requires leaving at least a 1/4" gap at the wall for expansion. The shoe mold, in this ansion gap. Alternatively, the flooring installer would remove the existing baseboard and reinstall or replace it with new baseboards to cover the expansion gap and then have no need for shoe mold at all.

3 million dollar home?! Oh la la! With that kind of money, you'd think you could jus hire someone else to fix it, and not worry about it...besides, if you think that molding is where they got you, you don't even know...

I know this is old but i ran into this for a different reason living in an antique home so we solved by adding baseboard plinth blocks. hope th helps someone else

I came across your post and was wondering what your outcome was? We are having the same problem. Told them from day one I didn’t want shoe molding or quarter round but hardwood floor installer was behind; contractor didn’t want house sitting for 2 weeks and had trimmers come and start. We came to check out the floor to discover trimmers had put base down as well so floor installer thought we were getting shoe molding and didn’t take our rift sawn white oak far enough to the baseboard. Now they have spent 2 weeks showing us numerous ideas to cover the gaps but they all look like an afterthought or cover up. I’m sick and have shed tears. Otherwise the floor is gorgeous and installers did an awesome job. But we are at a loss. We mentioned pulling it up and of course they don’t want to do that; we think if we are made to settle we shouldn’t have to pay for the floor at all but they haven’t offered that either. Any advice is appreciated.

" we think if we are made to settle we shouldn’t have to pay for the floor at all but they haven’t offered that either. "

Good luck with that. You "might" be able to get a slight discount but for free will not happen. If you were to go to court you would end paying in full.

Many are asking for an update! I so apprecite the advice I received here. We were not going to settle for something we did not want and that we had plenty of back up to show that it was not designed to look like that. This is where an email train (with photos) is so important. They ended up ripping all of it off, and redoing the couple feet of wood floor around the entire house that was damaged as they removed baseboards. And replacing it without the shoe mould. We love it! They were NOT happy, but it was their mistake so their problem. We also saw their contract for new clients has a clause about moudling and that once someone signs off, they will not fix/redo anything. I think this is one mistake they made and they learned from it and they won't let it happen again!