Hi all - I am working on a project that has concrete flooring, and they want to put wood flooring in. The contractor has said because of the gap that's needed at the edge of the wall where the wood meets the concrete walls that he wants to use quarter-round molding at the perimeter. This is not ideal for the aesthetic we want to achieve. Does anyone know of any solutions for this situation that are a little more contemporary? Prefer not to have any traditional base molding here if possible. Attached is a quick detail. Thanks in advance for any help/tips, much appreciated.
Saw cut a shadow reveal in the concrete wall and slide the floor flooring into the groove. No need for any trim!
Nov 13, 24 3:04 pm ·
·
OddArchitect
How would you cut a reveal in the wall if the floor is installed?
Nov 13, 24 3:07 pm ·
·
Non Sequitur
Saw cut base at X over finish floor... then get down on your knees and chisel away! I did not say it was easy, cheap, practical, or smart but it's better than a cheap quarter round.
If you have to use a wood molding, use base shoe, not quarter round--it looks better due to the foreshortening that happens when looking at quarter-round. For a more modern look, use a rectilinear profile, again taller than it is wide.
To get more creative, it would depend on the overall aesthetic, but maybe steel in an "L" profile, with a radiused inside corner to make cleaning easier. Steel and concrete usually look good together.
Or just install baseboard like you see on virtually every house and other project with wood floors.
we usually use an aluminum angle between wall and flooring, also usually with gyproc walls though. If you want to expose the concrete a combination of thin metal profiles could be nice still.
we have also used wood strips, 50mm x 5, turned sideways (ie, horizontal) for a renovation, and that came out well. We designed it to match the profile of electrical outlets, visible in some of the photos as black bars in the floor. The walls are painted rough concrete, in a 1960s apartment in central Tokyo.
that looks really good, and I know you take your shoes off, but doesn't it get dirty or dented when cleaning the floor? Also, do you hit your pinky on it? Very nice kitchen, congrats.
Thanks. The kitchen is by Muji. They do a lot more cool stuff in the Japanese market than outside of Japan.
The aluminum edges below seem a good start.
For what it is worth, if metal doesn't fly, sometimes it is cool to have an 18th century solution in a contemporary setting, if you can work out a nice way to apply it. In our case the trim solution we used is not so different from what would be around a room with tatami. Our builder is a long collaborator, which also helps, but we are not straying that far from traditional practice with the solution.
kept thinking about it, anything you put there would have to be attached either to the floor or the concrete, hopefully not glued. I though this could work, put a small block down to the underlayment height, then an aluminum J profile attached to this block, and the cover it with a lose fine wood piece that can be removed if needed. Could be wider too.
If it's real wood flooring, or even with engineered wood flooring, you need to leave a perimeter gap for expansion. I ignored that rule once and had to replace buckled boards.
scribe a baseboard to the floor, the whole point of quarter round or shoe mold is to cover that gap AND push it into place to handle the nonflat floor.
Or provide leveler all around the perimeter so that a scribed base wouldn't be necessary. Either way, gotta attach something to the wall that covers the gap... gap is necessary for the expansion of the flooring over the seasons
Schluter. You will have to put it down first, leave a gap for expansion of the wood and caulk the joint to the wall because it will not be straight. I prefer traditional wood base in a residential application though
I wonder if you could hold the GWB off the floor enough to allow the metal trim to slide under it? You'd still have the issue with the wall not being perfectly square. Maybe with a level 4-5 finish it would be cleaner / straighter?
Nov 14, 24 2:10 pm ·
·
proto
i bet there's a wood-look tape somewhere that can cover the aluminum
Not sure if this would work but what if you notched the wall with a 2x wood void form that you'd remove after? Obviously this would be for new construction only.
Just and idea.
Nov 14, 24 4:20 pm ·
·
isitfunyet
Yes this would be a great idea if it were new construction but sadly it's not and we can't touch the concrete.
Thanks all for the input/ideas very much appreciated and helpful, what a great community this is to have here. I've worked solo for many years and don't have a lot of people I can really bounce questions like this off of - that's one of the things I miss about working in a firm.
Trending many years ago were passive solar earth-bermed concrete homes which worked well in theory - the problem is concrete hydrates (cures) over a long period of time (like 5 years) - these homes were sealed to retain the energy collected by the solar mass (the concrete of course) - the problem was that this moisture grew mildew (that musty odor) and mold (really not good) - hardwood floors beat engineered wood floors any day and last the life of the house (100+ years) because they can be refinished many times vs. laminated (composite) floors with a thin layer of hardwood (maybe) - the best way to install hardwood floors is to "float" them over the concrete slab with sleepers that are ram-set to the slab - due to the hydration process use a sheet plastic vapor barrier over the sleeper and under the T&G wood floor planks which are toe-nailed to the sleepers (I start crying when I see rock maple flooring to this day) - now you have a "live" floor which beats the hell out of walking around your entire life on a rock (concrete) - in my custom homes I use a cold joint at a concrete wall - if you want a more defined floor edge you can machine this edge to accept a flush-mounted brass or aluminum channel - if you place plywood (but it is always OSB) over curing concrete you can count on warping which also warps the finish wood floor (and the sleeper system is fare less expensive being 1x3's at 16" o.c. - now you've learned something new (maybe) ...
Modern option to quarter round for wood flooring?
Hi all - I am working on a project that has concrete flooring, and they want to put wood flooring in. The contractor has said because of the gap that's needed at the edge of the wall where the wood meets the concrete walls that he wants to use quarter-round molding at the perimeter. This is not ideal for the aesthetic we want to achieve. Does anyone know of any solutions for this situation that are a little more contemporary? Prefer not to have any traditional base molding here if possible. Attached is a quick detail. Thanks in advance for any help/tips, much appreciated.
Saw cut a shadow reveal in the concrete wall and slide the floor flooring into the groove. No need for any trim!
How would you cut a reveal in the wall if the floor is installed?
Saw cut base at X over finish floor... then get down on your knees and chisel away! I did not say it was easy, cheap, practical, or smart but it's better than a cheap quarter round.
Ah thank you but I should have mentioned it's a commercial project and we can't touch the walls, otherwise that would be great!
all i can think of is backer rod/sealant...but that sounds not to clean visually
cork strip jammed in there?
fry reglet is your friend
If you have to use a wood molding, use base shoe, not quarter round--it looks better due to the foreshortening that happens when looking at quarter-round. For a more modern look, use a rectilinear profile, again taller than it is wide.
To get more creative, it would depend on the overall aesthetic, but maybe steel in an "L" profile, with a radiused inside corner to make cleaning easier. Steel and concrete usually look good together.
Or just install baseboard like you see on virtually every house and other project with wood floors.
we usually use an aluminum angle between wall and flooring, also usually with gyproc walls though. If you want to expose the concrete a combination of thin metal profiles could be nice still.
we have also used wood strips, 50mm x 5, turned sideways (ie, horizontal) for a renovation, and that came out well. We designed it to match the profile of electrical outlets, visible in some of the photos as black bars in the floor. The walls are painted rough concrete, in a 1960s apartment in central Tokyo.
that looks really good, and I know you take your shoes off, but doesn't it get dirty or dented when cleaning the floor? Also, do you hit your pinky on it? Very nice kitchen, congrats.
Very helpful thank you, and nice project!
Thanks. The kitchen is by Muji. They do a lot more cool stuff in the Japanese market than outside of Japan.
The aluminum edges below seem a good start.
For what it is worth, if metal doesn't fly, sometimes it is cool to have an 18th century solution in a contemporary setting, if you can work out a nice way to apply it. In our case the trim solution we used is not so different from what would be around a room with tatami. Our builder is a long collaborator, which also helps, but we are not straying that far from traditional practice with the solution.
kept thinking about it, anything you put there would have to be attached either to the floor or the concrete, hopefully not glued. I though this could work, put a small block down to the underlayment height, then an aluminum J profile attached to this block, and the cover it with a lose fine wood piece that can be removed if needed. Could be wider too.
If it's real wood flooring, or even with engineered wood flooring, you need to leave a perimeter gap for expansion. I ignored that rule once and had to replace buckled boards.
scribe a baseboard to the floor, the whole point of quarter round or shoe mold is to cover that gap AND push it into place to handle the nonflat floor.
Or provide leveler all around the perimeter so that a scribed base wouldn't be necessary. Either way, gotta attach something to the wall that covers the gap... gap is necessary for the expansion of the flooring over the seasons
Schluter. You will have to put it down first, leave a gap for expansion of the wood and caulk the joint to the wall because it will not be straight. I prefer traditional wood base in a residential application though
I've used this on projects and really like it.
That is very clean looking!
I wonder if you could hold the GWB off the floor enough to allow the metal trim to slide under it? You'd still have the issue with the wall not being perfectly square. Maybe with a level 4-5 finish it would be cleaner / straighter?
i bet there's a wood-look tape somewhere that can cover the aluminum
Dear gowd not tape! ;)
Not sure if this would work but what if you notched the wall with a 2x wood void form that you'd remove after? Obviously this would be for new construction only.
Just and idea.
Yes this would be a great idea if it were new construction but sadly it's not and we can't touch the concrete.
Thanks all for the input/ideas very much appreciated and helpful, what a great community this is to have here. I've worked solo for many years and don't have a lot of people I can really bounce questions like this off of - that's one of the things I miss about working in a firm.
Yeah I love these discussions!
Sorry if I missed this, but what is the horizontal dimension of the gap?
Trending many years ago were passive solar earth-bermed concrete homes which worked well in theory - the problem is concrete hydrates (cures) over a long period of time (like 5 years) - these homes were sealed to retain the energy collected by the solar mass (the concrete of course) - the problem was that this moisture grew mildew (that musty odor) and mold (really not good) - hardwood floors beat engineered wood floors any day and last the life of the house (100+ years) because they can be refinished many times vs. laminated (composite) floors with a thin layer of hardwood (maybe) - the best way to install hardwood floors is to "float" them over the concrete slab with sleepers that are ram-set to the slab - due to the hydration process use a sheet plastic vapor barrier over the sleeper and under the T&G wood floor planks which are toe-nailed to the sleepers (I start crying when I see rock maple flooring to this day) - now you have a "live" floor which beats the hell out of walking around your entire life on a rock (concrete) - in my custom homes I use a cold joint at a concrete wall - if you want a more defined floor edge you can machine this edge to accept a flush-mounted brass or aluminum channel - if you place plywood (but it is always OSB) over curing concrete you can count on warping which also warps the finish wood floor (and the sleeper system is fare less expensive being 1x3's at 16" o.c. - now you've learned something new (maybe) ...
We use cork because it looks similar to wood:
https://clsa.us/flooring-cork-...
me also likes bamboo too ...
Fry Reglet probably is the answer
Maybe an upside down aluminum or wood L bracket to maintain the expansion gap below…
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