What no
baseboards!??! And no
crown molding? They may kick us out of Corona del Mar. Had I examined our plans more closely, I wouldn't have been as surprised when the contractor announced the first two bathrooms were done. I immediately emailed him my list of little things to take care of. Like, where are the baseboards?
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| Do you see a baseboard? I sure don't. |
The contractor seemed perplexed himself. He forwarded my email to the tile guy. The tile guy called me and explained the plans called for a metal piece to be installed on the bottom of the drywall board and back wall, that the floor tile butts up to underneath. No baseboards and protected from water. We checked out the plans. There was indeed a metal piece called a
Fry Reglet.
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| Check out detail #8 |
Not only were there no baseboards, but some sort of rod thingy was supposed to be shoved in the crack under the drywall. And, upon examination of the plans, we realized that detail #3 was missing as well, the
Schluter-Jolly which created a thin metal rail at the top of the tile. Whatever we had, wasn't what was in the plans. I called in the big guns. Albert phoned the tile guy. The tile guy told Albert, "This is the new thing,
no baseboards." He sent photos.
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| Photo 1 no baseboards |
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| Photo 2 no baseboards |
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| Photo 3 no baseboards |
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| Photo 4 no baseboards (bonus it's a bathroom) |
Okay, we get it already. No baseboards. The tile guy decided to stop by and review the whole situation with us. Where was the rod filler in the crack/gap? The tile guy didn't like the look of the rod filler. He explained the painter was supposed to tape off very carefully and paint underneath. Which the painter did, kind of, sort of, carefully. Alrighty then, where were the Schluter-Jollies at at the top? Research on Houzz reveals countless
Schlueter photos.
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| Schluter-Jolly metal edge missing at top. I don't mind. |
The tile guy said they weren't needed and he left them out, but he would take down the tile and install Schlueters if we wanted them. We pointed out, the tile was supposed to have a matching crack like the drywall at the bottom, see detail #4 above. He didn't like the look, but fine, he'll tear up the tile and put in the crack. This is the ultimate sub threat, "We'll rip up your house again and redo it all, no problem lady."
Horrors. Anything but that. We relented, and ultimately, we felt, honestly, these design touches wouldn't have added anything for their extra hassle at install. And, I learned something. The tile guy has good ideas, and is an independent thinker. My last worry, I wondered about dirt underneath the crack where the baseboard should have been and all the extra cleaning involved. The tile guy said the dirt was worth it for "the look."
I found more
"no baseboard" pictures in Pinterest. Will I install baseboard in a year?
Do I have to have baseboards? And what kind? Tile? These questions perplex me. I am letting it go for now. What do you think?
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| No baseboard and new Target elephant grey rug. |
Related Posts:
When the floor is cleaned, is there a chance dirty water splashes up and stains the surface abutting the floor--hence the old-fashioned name "mopboards"?
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly what I am worried about. Dirty walls.
ReplyDeleteYou have a gorgeous, modern home, so enjoy it. Adding baseboards would destroy the character of what the architect intended. Everything I have seen in your photos has been well-executed.
ReplyDeleteFor our bathroom baseboards, we used a single run of the same bullnose tile (white subway) we used on the tub surround. I love it. (I love schlueters too, but I need a little more coverage than that for mopping, etc.)
ReplyDelete