A lot of mistakes were made and things overlooked because of some recent family chaos, and ive learned a lot. I can’t go back in time to do it right but i do want to know how i should proceed. Live with it and learn a life lesson? Talk to the flooring contractor? Constructive advice would be appreciated.

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What i should have done (and would have if it werent for extenuating circumstances) would have been to inspect the baseboards in person instead of letting certain other members of the family do it ;). Learn from my mistake. Read EVERY draft of the contract carefully, include pictures of exactly what you want, and be there in person during installation! And try not to have family emergencies in the middle

If the baseboards were not removed before refinishing, the shoe moulding probably covers up some rough edges of the refinishing. The baseboard issue you describe may be related to the sanding. If you were to remove the shoe moulding now, the baseboards and floor edges might look bad.

You might be stuck with the shoe moulding until you are ready to refinish the floors again. At that time, you could remove the shoe and baseboards before the sanding is done, and tell the refinisher to sand and finish all the way to the edge of the wood planks (up to the wall).

If you want, you can make the shoe look nicer with cleaning, maybe caulk, and paint. Maybe sand those rough edges and fill the dents with wood putty, sand and paint.

Contractors tried to talk me into adding shoe moulding when I had hardwood floors refinished and I had to fight them every time. Adding shoe moulding makes their job easier.

You can’t really be there during refinishing when they are sanding and putting product down on the floor (if doing whole house refinishing). You could be there when they remove and replace the baseboards or add shoe moulding.

If you just want to replace the shoe moulding, something could be done about that. But you probably don’t want to get rid of it until the next refinishing.

It’s my understanding that the only difference between shoe moulding and quarter round is shape (and maybe size). Quarter round is a quarter of a circle and shoe moulding is flatter. That last pic looks more like shoe.

Talk to the contractor, just politely point out the areas that look bad and ask him why, and how he can fix it. Sometimes the boss isn't aware that his crew did sloppy work - let's hope that is the case here. It won't hurt to ask to have the quarter round replaced with shoe. Molding is not expensive (although it would add up if we are talking an entire house here) - hopefully you have the email that mentions shoe.

Did you discuss that they would sand with the baseboard in place, or did they indicate that it would be removed and replaced? Did they tell you how they would avoid damaging the baseboard if they didn't remove it?

That one piece looks to me more like the quarter round is warped - but perhaps it is from damage to the baseboard. Also, In that one corner I think they should have just butted it straight, instead of doing a clumsy miter that looks terrible.

Addition of molding to old (as in decades old) baseboard or other woodwork is often going to be an imperfect fit - it is acceptable to use a good caulk to fill small gaps and seams before painting. But some of that work you show is unacceptable IMO.

Thanks! So to clarify, this quarter round is not the same as the “shoe molding” they promised pre-contract?

They did take the original quarter round molding off before sanding (and maybe before applying stain), but I don’t know if they glued or caulked down the molding in a way that would damage the floors.

Here are some more pictures, including one showing that it’s actually quarter round, despite the odd perspective in some of the pictures.

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What do you think—is it worth asking if we could replace the baseboards and molding without gouging the new floor? Or just caulk and paint over it if they charge too much to fix it?

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I’m really unhappy with how it looks, and i wish they had told us during their inspection that they were going to have trouble putting shoe molding over the baseboards.

Quarter round vs base shoe explained here. Your photo just above looks more like base shoe to me - but it is hard to tell.

That’s the site we used too. What we have is definitely 1/4 of a circle rather than 1/4 of an ellipse. Part of the (old crappy door frame) is overlapping the rightmost edge.
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I wonder if I could replace the baseboards and molding now, and then replace the door frames at a later date. Or is that going to be hard…?

That is quarter round, not base shoe.

Yes, this is a sloppy install done by someone who doesn't know how. I doubt they can do better.

Honestly, it's a lot of work and bad will to change it and what looks bad can be fixed with caulk and paint. Was that part of the deal, that they would paint the new moulding?

They said that they were going to get primed mounding that would look just as good, which I said ok to. We didn’t think about the exposed ends. But we would have been okay putting patch paint on the exposed ends if the rest had looked fine

Is this just in the bathroom or throughout the house?

Throughout the house

The baseboards should have been removed for new floor install so if that was not done the trim is a must so now IMO paint it all the same and the exposed ends too and be done

We didn’t think about the exposed ends.

Nor should you have needed to because the ends should either die into base (picture #3) or have had mitered returns (pic #'s 4 & 6). Mitered returns are standard practice.

In the first picture, the right leg of the corner was cut too long which is why the left leg has the gap.

Base shoe is barely tolerable but sometimes necessary. Quarter round is just flat out awful.

What was there before the floors were refinished? https://www.laminate-flooring-installed.com/cutting-quarter-round-returns.html

It depends on your budget, but we have been replacing all the baseboards in our house (have lived here three years) gradually, room by room (DH does the work) with something taller and replacing the quarter round with shoe molding and it looks a lot better. Your baseboards do look banged up (or at least need to be painted), so if you can, I would do it. Your door casing looks fine. If you can DIY it's pretty inexpensive, just time consuming. If you have to pay for labor I'm sure it's not inexpensive. You have to have it painted after it's installed which is another expense. But if the house is older and the baseboards are banged up maybe it's time. Otherwise they're just going to look bad next to your new floors.

You’re right—I think we should DIY it, but I’m nervous about tearing it out and damaging something!

Patricia, would love your opinion—do you think it would be too late to repair the baseboards, maybe even a year or so down the line? We were also toying with the idea of wainscoting someday but wanted to do some research get houzz’s opinion first. If we did that, it would be a moot point.

I’m all for replacing the baseboards throughout if you really hate them. You could change the style or height. You could make them really spectacular. It is a lot of work. You need a pry bar, hammer, miter saw, pneumatic finish nailer and compressor (or alternative), EAR PROTECTION, caulk gun, paint brushes (or alternative), putty knife, coping saw (?), which is not that many tools, relative speaking. And a little rubbermaid stool to save your knees. Then you pry the boards off, remove nails, cut new pieces, nail, fill with putty or spackle, sand, caulk, paint baseboards, touch up wall paint. Don’t be in a hurry if you do it yourself. Take all the time you need. It would probably help if you painted baseboards and shoe moulding ahead of time and touchup after installation, but do some research for advice on painting baseboards.

It will look awesome! Make baseboard decisions that will elevate the look. Probably at least 4” baseboards, taller if your home can handle it. (Balance ceiling height and crown moulding thickness.) Consider door casings beforehand - they should be done first if changed. They can be spectacular too!

Baseboards sound like a little thing, but eyes tend to go toward the floor a lot, and they can make you feel a lot differently about the quality of your space.

UPDATE: If you are considering wainscoting, wait to replace baseboards.

Thanks for the advice kelli ! I think we’ll do this!

It might be a great opportunity to add matching trim too. I’ll look into it and then repurpose this thread to get more opinions

Hold on a minute. The floors were existing and you had them refinished. There is absolutely no reason to add that stupid quarter round. Tell them to come back and remove it. I bet it was added to the original molding to hide the damage done with the sander.

Horrible, horrible work.

Now that the floors are refinished, consider repainting the walls.

S W Tradewinds

I actually came in after they sanded but before they put the quarter round in, and there was a gap between where the floor ends and the baseboard begins. So either we need some sort of shoe molding or we need a thicker baseboard. Any recommendations?

@elcieg Not OP but now I’m coveting that Trade Winds color and thinking about putting it in our hallway to bedrooms when we repaint next year. It’s lovely.

Thicker baseboard might be hard to find, unless you have a lumberyard nearby that can do a special order (there is one in my area that can match old house trims). If you really dislike the look of an actual base shoe, you could experiment with a short square or rectangular piece, wide enough to cover the gap.

Looks like there are several options for shoe moulding.

https://www.rinoswoodworking.com/product-category/custom-molding/shoe-cove/

I haven’t seen some of these shapes before! That concave one might look good!

When I had my kitchen redone, the crew put quarter round around the windows (they don't have any trim otherwise). I didn't like that, they looked unfinished, so I bought cove molding, cut and installed it myself. Even though my joints likely weren't as good as theirs might have been, overall it looks much better. IMO!

I like the idea of cove molding. It is so much lower in profile, and would still cover the gap!

Everything needs a coat of paint, some sanding and caulk. The job is unfinished. It looks like your baseboard was in desperate need of paint before you started the floor project. That’s the beauty of painted trim, it’s so easy to make it look fresh and new with a coat of paint!

Agree with Hallett & Co. The old baseboard needs some TLC and everything needs to be caulked and painted to match. I see some rough areas on the baseboard that could use some sanding. If you are repainting the walls, now is the time to do so. In my opinion the top edge of the baseboard should be white with a clean line where it meets the wall colour. But some people prefer the top edge of the baseboard to be the wall colour. Whichever one makes you happy is fine as long as the edges are clean and neat. Redo the caulking where the top of the baseboard meets the wall and caulk the joints where the baseboard meets the new quarter round and the joints in the quarter round. When everything is clean and smooth, then a fresh coat of white over the baseboard and quarter round and it will be much improved.

If that was in your contract to have all of that done in the current round of work then call them back in to finish it. If it wasn't, this can definitely be a DIY job. Caulking is not difficult but you may need a few tries to perfect it and get the right amount of caulk flowing. Watch some videos on Youtube for some guidance.

Your comment above re that the molding would be "primed" okay. - there on the raw ends. That should have been primed when it was cut otherwise, really. It's NOT PRIMED. It's partially primed. NO EXCUSE.

I will share a comment from a retail associate that I always remember: ”Caulk is your friend.”