If you're refinishing your floors, you'll want to remove the quarter round trim to sand or strip off the old finish all the way to the edges. If done correctly, you can even replace the same trim once the floors are done!
Let's get started. As a general rule, we recommend leaving your base and shoe on when having your floors refinished, especially if it is painted. Depending on how the painters prepped your base, you can actually cause more damage to the base and walls by removing it.
If you remove the baseboard, you risk damaging the walls. Installing the laminate with quarter round will be much easier and won't damage the existing walls. That's the only "better" we can answer.
Begin by thoroughly sweeping floors with a soft bristle broom. So that you know, stiff bristles can scratch the wood's surface. Next, use a vacuum to remove hard-to-reach dirt in room corners and between floorboards. Afterward, mop using a micro cloth and concentrated cleaner for hardwood floors.
Account for when your tile will need to wrap around corners, where it will meet the tub, and/or when it will meet the floor. When your tile meets the wall or when it's wrapping around another wall that's perpendicular to it, we recommend using a bullnose or quarter round trim.
Quarter round is another moulding style typically paired with baseboards to cover up gaps and imperfections between the base and the floor. As such, it essentially has the same purpose as shoe moulding. However, this style of moulding is always shaped like a quarter of a circle, hence the name.
Installing hardwood floors without removing the baseboards is possible, and it's a suitable option for other types of flooring as well. If your baseboards have been glued to the wall and would cause damage if you tried to remove them, it may be best to leave them.
Measure and cut the quarter-round trim to the length of the wall using a measuring tape and a miter saw. Most cuts will be straight 90-degree cuts. Cut the edge of the trim at 45 degrees for corners. Use an angle finder to verify the corners are 90 degrees.
Painting Walls Before Refinishing or Laying Floors
For subfloors (prior to floor covering), almost any kind of paint drips are fine as they will be covered over. Painting activity and tools that damage flooring can be sanded out.
When sanding any floor, the amount of wood you remove depends on the coarseness of the paper you use. Flooring professionals can sand away as much as 1/16 inches of wood with the coarsest paper.
In general, it will usually take 3-5 days to refinish hardwood floors with an oil based polyurethane (+ drying time), pending on whether there is a stain/how dark the stain is/how humid it is and how many coats of polyurethane you apply.
Apply a generous amount of tile mastic at the back of the first quarter round that's designated for a particular edge. Hold a tile spacer at the corner piece with one hand. Set the piece firmly and squarely in place against the outer edge of the field tile, and against the spacer at the corner piece.
: a narrow molding often of quarter round joining the bottom of a baseboard and the floor.
Apply two thin beads of liquid floor adhesive to the sanded side of the quarter-round molding. Align the molding against the baseboard and press it against the wood. Hold the quarter round in place for about one minute to allow the materials to form a bond.
If your hardwood floors have been sanded and finished with Bona Mega Clear HD, it is safe to sleep in the home about 2-3 hours after the project is finished, but again, only if there are other rooms that have not been robbed of their furniture – furniture should stay off floors for at least 24 hours after ANY project ...
Wait 3 weeks before putting area rugs on newly refinished/finished hardwood floors. Wait 48 to 72 hours after the hardwood has been refinished/ finished before "PLACING" furniture back in its place. Keep a steady temperature and humidity within your home.
If you're thinking about selling your home and it has hardwood flooring that's scratched and worn, you would be wise to have it refinished before listing the property. Having hardwood floors refinished can cost thousands of dollars, but it will be money well spent.
Start with 36-grit sandpaper for a floor that hasn't been sanded in a long time or that has a lot of heavy finish on it. Floors that have been painted may even require you to go tougher and use 24 or 16-grit paper. Maple floors are so hard that they often require 36-grit sandpaper as well.
Refinishing Prefinished and Laminated Hardwood Floors
Whether you have traditional hardwoods, prefinished wood, or laminated wood, restoring without sanding is a practical solution. Though you can sand your traditional hardwoods, it's difficult or even impossible to sand prefinished or laminated wood floors.
Masking tapes prevent your skirting boards, beadings, walls, doors, door frames and fireplaces from being damaged, scratched or stained while our experts are sanding, staining and finishing the wood flooring. The standard masking tape usually used for these purposes is made of paper.