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I have done lots of finish carpentry for houses with all hardwood, but never for carpeted rooms. Looking for advice:
-Do the jambs go all the way to the subfloor or do you leave some space?
-Do the baseboards go in before or after the carpet?
-The hallway will be 3/4″ hardwood, the bedrooms carpet. Should the thresholds be carpeted or hardwood? Where, exactly, does the transition take place?
Thanks in advance.
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The baseboards go in first,3/8 off the decking.Some leave the jambs up 3/8 some people put them to the floor. The transition should take place under the door. the two materials should meet directly under the door and the carpet should return to create a nice edge up against the hardwood.Wether you cut the jamb or not is not as important as the final clearance of the door off the hardwood. 3/8" to 5/8" and the jamb head should be level.
*John, how do you figure the baseboards go in first?The doors are always the first thing to be done,then door casing,then baseboard.
*gregn,Where you have carpet on both sides of the door(such as closets in the bedrooms),I use the thick part of a shim to hold the hinge side jamb off the floor,then adjust the other side to get an even reveal around the door.This is about 3/8"-1/2".Where you have hardwood in the hall and carpet in the room,I would first cut 1/2" off the bottom of each jamb,then set the jambs on a piece of the hardwood floor that will be installed(or right down tight to the floor if it is already laid).I would run the hardwood all the way through to the inside(the bedroom side)of the jamb.Most all doors swing in towards the room,so the flooring transition would be even with the inside of the door.Some carpet installers use cedar shingles laid with the fat end towards the hardwood,tapering down towards the carpet side.Then they tuck it nicely up tight to the hardwood.Some will use a threshold,lipped up over the edge of the hardwood,thus creating a nice place to stub your toe when you get up in the morning when you're dragging your feet!In either case,there will be enough clearance for the door to swing without dragging on anything.The casing on the carpet side is cut 3/8"-1/2" short of the subfloor.The baseboard is then installed the same height off the floor.It must be laid before the carpet so the carpet installers have something to tuck the carpet under.When running base,I usually just use the tip of my finger to hold it off the subfloor,this is not real critical since the carpet and pad is usually more than that.
*maj,John meant that baseboards go first before the carpet goes down.J
*greg,My methods...Door jambs and all baseboard installed over scraps of 3/4" wood....And I use thresholds at doors often though most all that is posted here works...J
*AJ, have you done this 3/4" shim in a house that has the immensely popular thin berber style carpet?Did it once ( was not forewarned of carpet thickness, and homeowners do change their minds, and even carpeting), had to shoe.No more than 3/8" since, and no problem.I have seen some carpet installations that were so good, no thresholds necessary. Strange but true.We also cut off door bottoms swinging over carpet. 1 1/2" above subfloor. It seems like a lot but it also seems to work.BB
*Oh yeah,I get it now! Jeez,sorry about that John.
*My last home had berber upstairs....I don't recall seeing a gap, but it is padded well so there may be none...I do check final floor coverings always....I don't work on inexpensive homes either...are there expensive berbers with pads that add up to less than 3/4"????...This method has worked for me since day one...1986.J
*Good point Billy . I do alot of production trimwork and had a similar problem . I was holding base up 1/2" and the builder used the cheapest pad with a very thin berber and I had to shoe every room that had the berber . I could tell you many other stories about the trash homes I work on but it will only depress me . I live for the 4 or 5 custom homes I am able to work on each year but am forced to stick with the production guys who turn out 40 to 50 a year to make a living . I'll let you guess about the quality of a 1900 sq ft house framed in 3 days and ready for occupancy 30 days after the foundation is finished .
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We almost always raise our base 3/8"...however i recently completed a commercial job..(a church) with glue down carpet...although i think the 3/8" would have worked the carpet installer insisted we install the base after the carpet to help hold down edges. I was very pleased with the results. this was a first for me as i have almost always installed base prior to carpet.
*Using a berber in my current project. I allowed 1/2" and it worked well. The tack strip will raise the carpet 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch and the carpet is generally more that 1/4 inch thick. It seems to me that you could put everything right on the floor. When the carpet is turned at a junction with a hardwood floor, there is no gap there and this is a high traffic area. I think that the carpet is wedged between the base and the strip and the critical space is the distance of the strip from the base. Just a reasoned WAG.DennisDennis
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My carpet guy says base can always be set on sufloor, but I don't like paying for base width and losing some of it...I notice whenever I am in a home and the base looks so short.
J
*Pretty expensive carpeting and padding. 1/2 mil houses, so I am assuming.If the sheetrock doesn't go to the floor, we've also taken to filling the gap with 1/2" plywood scraps. We have very exuberant carpet layers, who can cave in or crack a piece of base in a heartbeat. Then it goes in after the carpet.Also have to rip down and notch wider base, or add to smaller stuff to accomodate wood, tile, or vinyl transitions at carpet w/o thresholds. Mr. Baseman,BB
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Anybody have trouble with carpet installers that beat the heck out of the base so putty pops out and coped joints are broken open? I've put scrap plywood behind when the base when installed and seems to help marginally. The carpet guys I use get a nice tight install, but jeez I can't take what they do to the base. Maybe the sheetrockers need to nail more often at the bottom of the sheet so there's less give.
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I am not sure of your case, but if the installer uses a 4' 2x4 with a carpet backing it will distribute the force of the power stretcher over a wider area and not mar the base. Installers are paid by the yard - and I have never heard one of them tell me how much they love theri job, so speed may be part of the problem.
Dennis
*Red, ever notice how many sheetrockers post on this site? Unfortunately, you're on your own.The ply blocks work ( we use them all the time), but we also have to check the sheetrock, and screw it off if necessary. The carpet guys are paid to get it tight. Putting in our own blocking, fastening sheetrock, who sez trimmers don't have all the fun.BB
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I have done lots of finish carpentry for houses with all hardwood, but never for carpeted rooms. Looking for advice:
-Do the jambs go all the way to the subfloor or do you leave some space?
-Do the baseboards go in before or after the carpet?
-The hallway will be 3/4" hardwood, the bedrooms carpet. Should the thresholds be carpeted or hardwood? Where, exactly, does the transition take place?
Thanks in advance.