Refit recessed baseboard & window/door trim
My fiancee and I just moved into our first house and have some small (and big) renovations planned. The old owners left us with a mix of trashed Brazilian Cherry cheap engineered floor and trashed carpet. New Du Chateau floors are ordered and will be installed just in time for Christmas. Before the floors are laid down we want to address the baseboard issue.
The builder’s grade MDF with at least five coats of paint is leaving and we want to do a recessed baseboard. Ideally, I want to take 6″ of drywall off from the bottom and install an aluminum reveal (not PVC Trimtex). After the new floors are down I will rip and plane nice solid wood to fit in the recess, leaving 1/2″ between the top of the wood base and the aluminum reveal trim. The rock is 1/2″ with the horrible knockdown texture. Ultimately I would like to skim coat over this, but that’s another topic and another day. The total LF of base to be done is around 250′
My problem is finding a drywall contractor willing to do this work. Nobody wants to touch it. Either they don’t know where to get Fry Reglet (or any equivalent) or they are afraid it will be too time consuming. They won’t even give me a ballpark estimate. Does anyone have experience with installing this (either pre or post construction)? Sure you have to cut the sheetrock straight when removing the 6″, but that isn’t too hard. I know the walls are framed with wood studs over concrete.
Also, what suggestions do you have with window trim that would match this? I could carry the reveal around the doors between the jamb and wall, but the windows are at a loss for me. They are drywall return with a cheap stool now. I thought maybe porthole trim with wood matching the base would be okay, but that’s my only idea. Maybe using a 1/2″ reveal around the perimeter, set back an inch or so from the edge, would work, or just a corner bead showing on the wall and tucked behind the jamb lining mentioned before (or not even using a jamb lining). I like minimalist things, but not to the point of living in a square, white box. As a side note, we have no children or pets, and we don’t bang the vacuum cleaner against the wall (wood floors = no vacuum cleaner).
I’d appreciate your input and an offhand estimate/what to expect costwise if you have worked with this before. Are there any other options I could consider? Sorry if it’s a little confusing, but obviously the base reveal has to be done before the new flooring is installed and I can see the next 75 days passing by too fast… Thanks in advance for any help.