I am working in a house, doing a few different things, and one of the things I have encountered is two different floor heights. They had installed a hardwood floor in part of the house and there is an existing hardwood floor in the rest of it.
In one of the large doorways entering another room, the height transition is right in the middle of the doorjamb. (door opening is about 8′ wide, no actual door or casing, just a drywalled, bullnosed opening.) Height difference is about 1 1/2″ between the floors on this side of opening. Difference on other side is going to be about the same as she is going to add hardwood flooring there also. Only the one room will remain at the lower level.(the original hardwood floor).
My question is this; how do I run the baseboard throughout all the rooms when there is such a height difference and especially in the middle of a door opening? Is there a way to do it that will not look funny? Please advise and thanks in advance!
Replies
Put a jamb with casing instead of the bullnose drywall outside corners. The elevation change will happen in the middle of the jamb which is no big deal. The change in height of the base will happen at the backside of the casing and will be difficult to notice in two adjacent rooms.
carpenter in transition
Tim,
I like your idea but she is intent on having the bullnosed drywall look. That part of the job was done a couple of years ago, and it was never finished. They only had the opening enlarged and one coat of mud applied and then they stopped. Weren't sure what they were going to do about the floors, I guess. Now it is my job to figure out the finishing aspects.
I'm not complaining, as they have decided to do a lot of other work also. It's just these little details that sometimes get tricky. Thanks for your response!
Duey
Duey, why not cut the bullnose bead short of the floor and build out a pediment base sort of like what piffin suggests. Paint if out the wall color. Die the two diff ht. bases into the side of that on each side of the wall. -II Nice diagram.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
treat the legs of the openning like pilasters supporting an arch. Then trim them at the base like a plinth wiuth a wide base for the smaller baseboard throughout the room to abutt.
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piffin,
At the risk of sounding naive, I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are saying. Could you explain this a little further? I sometimes don't grasp things quite as well as I should. Thanks for your help!
Duey
Build a three sided box about eight inches high with a base cap on it for five inch base to butt into. If the baseboard is only 3.5" then make the plinth base 5.5" or so.
Look up Plinth in a dictionary or illustrated archy dictionary to see what I am speaking of
Basicly a plinth is the square box base that a column sits on in classical architecture. A pilaster is a half column that lays against a wall. So the sides of this doorway opening are like pilasters supporting an arch. They should stand on plinths. Make it appear so.
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Edited 3/29/2004 7:02 am ET by piffin
Duey basically he is saying put a differnt base board in the door opening that wraps around to the wall and let the existing baseboard meet the base in the doorway (plinth)
piffin,
Now I see what you're saying. It makes perfect sense! Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. The walls on each side of the door opening are about 12" long. How far back on each wall would you suggest going with the sides of the box? Half the distance?? Or maybe the thickness of the jamb to make three equal sides? Thanks again!
Duey
Supposing that your inner face is c.5.5"w then make the wings c.3.5"w
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Sometimes a picture is worth...
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piffin,
Great pictures, and yes, they definitely helped! Thanks a lot. Your sound advice is appreciated!
Duey
or go the other route ....
nothing in between.
Just base with a return right before the bullnose on each side.
Personally ... I like an uncased opening to be un-based also.
Takes a little durobond right down to the finish flooring(or subfloor).
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Right.
What Jeff said.
Addition just completed called for 4 1/4" base. Existing had 8" base plus a cap. Beaded opening was 11 1/2" thick. Returned both bases short of the opening so they wouldn't clash. Otherwise would have had about a 10-11" tall plinth. I think the disparity on the shorter base would have been too, too much.
Does this help?
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