They removed the old carpet and padding, but they kept some of the old tack strips. They only replaced what they said needed to be. I think that might be part of the problem, but I don't know if that's common practice or not.

Thanks for confirming that the edges need to be fixed. Do you think it's because they cut the carpet too short? Not short enough?

Really appreciate your help!!

Baseboards are usually installed before carpet, then the carpet is installed up to it, so there's no chance you'll see a gap. It looks like at least some of your existing baseboard was installed after your previous carpet and is therefore sitting too high. Unless your contract with the carpet installer included floor leveling, they're not responsible for the uneven subfloor and gap at the bottom of the base.

To do it right, have the carpet installer come back to loosen the carpet and remove all the tack strips. Remove old baseboards, install new and paint. If you go with a taller base you might get away without repainting the walls, but there's no guarantee. Then the carpet installer can install new tack strip, stretch, attach and tuck the carpet.

The height of your previous wall-to-wall hid all these problems.

You'll need to replace the baseboard in the room.

Just taking a shot at this because I am not a carpet expert.

I see you have a quarter round on the floor molding with the tile floor, but no quarter round with the carpet that was installed. Adding the quarter round to your carpet molding may help visually.

I also see a difference, looking through the pictures that you have different styles of moldings in different areas

The carpet may loosen up a bit and could possibly be restretched to fill the gaps.

I never install any flooring with baseboards installed first so IMO thta was the first mistake .Waht was the flooring prior to the carpet? Whty carpet at all ?

First, no good carpet installer re uses the tack strip.

Multiple baseboard height is not his issue - that is on you. Noticeable now due to a thinner broadloom.

No amount of stretching will fill height gaps. Nor will it level and uneven sub floor.

Carpet is typically installed after baseboards and is ”packed” into the baseboards with a tucker or stair tool. Most likely the OP is in this situation because the carpet was installed before the baseboard.

I can’t think of any reason to replace tack strip unless there are pets in the home. Tack strip will last well beyond the life of a single carpet install and likely through four or five carpets. I strongly suspect that installers replacing tack strip are just padding the bill.

—

The most likely reason this happened is because the baseboard was installed/replaced after the carpet. You can always tell when that happens as it will sit high. It is almost impossible to push the baseboard into the carpet and so it is often installed higher. To be properly and permanently repaired the carpet needs to be pulled back, the baseboard installed at the proper height, then the carpet brought to the baseboard and packed in.

Alternatively, there are a variety of shoe moldings that will look great and are cheap. A carpet supplier may even have a roll of paintable half quarter you can buy.

Good luck.

Hi all,

There is 1 baseboard that is different in the room, which I know is sitting higher. I was plan on fixing this myself. They didn't tell me I needed to fix it before the install. All baseboards were there before the install. Not sure if this changes the responses out there. Thanks so much for your help!

“All baseboards were there before the install.”

Were the baseboards there before any carpet was installed or just before this particular installation?

Again, if baseboards are installed after any type of carpet with a higher pile, they will look fine until the carpet is replaced with a lower pile carpet, then it will become apparent that the baseboards were installed too high.

The fault likely lies with the baseboard installer. This is not something that a carpet installer is likely to verify before the installation. There is also no real advantage to stopping the carpet installation to repair the problem.