Should Baseboards Be Caulked At Floor

Always caulk the bottom of baseboards in the bathroom or any other room before painting.

Should baseboards be caulked at floor.

So are baseboards supposed to be caulked. If the intersection isn t caulked it will be a permanent dirt magnet. Caulking the unfinished wood floor cannot form water tight seals or joints. Baseboards must be caulked so that there would be no gaps between the wall baseboards and the floor.

Caulking baseboards is easy fast and inexpensive. Yes there are numerous benefits of caulking baseboards in your home. If the intersection between the wall and the baseboard is caulked it s smooth dirt doesn t tend to collect and if it does it s easy to wipe off. Absolutely do not caulk between the floor and base.

The object is to set the tape at the exact vertical position where the baseboard would make contact with the floor. Some people caution that the floorboards expand and contract in different seasons hence the crack but i have hardwood floors and never had a problem despite the caulking. There are two significant reasons for caulking baseboards. If i didn t hate this house so much i would install shoe moulding.

Caulking also prevents baseboards from damage due to water and leakages. Some of the comments here complain about caulk changing color. Use good quality tape 3m 1 blue painter s tape. There are several other benefits that you get when it is used home during baseboards.

Calking after painting may destroy your floor appeal. You should get a new high quality painter come in and fix the bad prep work and repaint your baseboards but you will pay dearly for their time. Caulk is not neccessary as there is no change in plane. Here a video on how to caulk baseboards.

The idiots who built my house caulked the baseboards to the floor i hate the look. When setting the tape hold the roll flat up against the baseboard as a guide in positioning the tape first photo above. Applying caulk to baseboards is usually a retroactive measure designed to fill in gaps that occur at the top against the wall or at the bottom adjacent to the flooring. Once painted with latex fixing the poor prep work afterward becomes more difficult as latex paint remains rubbery for years so sanding makes it peel.

As far as water getting behind the baseboard i think the odds of that happening are outweighted by the aesthetics grout looks so so much better than caulk. If you have bugs in the walls you can keep them out of the rooms by caulking. In addition its good to note caulking is not recommended for unfinished floor or walls. That isn t a problem if the caulk is painted as it should be.