Introduction: In most modern home construction the baseboard finished carpentry has a base shoe molding that teams up with baseboard in rooms that have hard wood, tile, sheet vinyl, or other laminate material as finished flooring.

For many years the quarter round molding (an obvious name based on its end view) was used as the base shoe moldings. There are two choices of the standard quarter round molding, 1/2 or 3/4 inch. However, there is a wide variety of base shoe molding profiles to choose from.

The small scale and simple lines of most base shoe molding make it easy to cope the inside corners. After cutting the copes you did in installing a roomful of baseboard molding, installing the shoe molding should be a piece of cake. The flexibility of base shoe enables you to bend it to conform to the wavy floors that are almost universal in older homes and still quite common in new construction. The most important thing to know about installing shoe molding is that you always nail it into the wall, never the floor.

I recommend that you paint the shoe base molding before installing it. It will make the finishing step much easier. All you will have to do is lightly touch up the nail hole wood putty.

Installing shoe molding:

1. Cut the molding to the desired length and then butt it against the casing to determine the exact end points. Make pencil marks for the cuts. End cuts should be cut at 45 degree angles.

2. Set your miter saw to make a 45 degree and cut on the marked lines. Outside corners of base shoe molding are miter cut like the baseboard itself. Adding a touch of glue is inexpensive insurance that the joint will stay closed. To avoid splitting this small-scale lumber, resist the urge to drive nails too close to the end.

3. Cope inside corners for a tight fitting joint that will look great even if the corners are out of square. Most corners are always out of square. Coping most base shoes is a simple matter of following a smooth line.

4. Pushing down on the shoe molding makes it conform to a wavy floor for a no-gap fit. A brad nail gun is ideal to nail the shoe to the baseboard. It will set the nail heads relieving you of having to do it by hand.

5. Fill the nail heads with wood putty and apply finish paint.

That is all there is to installing shoe molding. You will find that is much easier than installing the baseboard.

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