All About Moldings for Wood Floors

A molding is a strip, usually made of wood, or other material, used to cover joints between floors and walls, or walls and ceilings. Wood floors require expansion space at the wall. Moldings for wood floors are used to cover this expansion area, to hide cut ends, to create height differences, and to accent the floor. Moldings for wood floors are typically used at a wall juncture where it serves to hide a gap.

Moldings for wood floors are dressed or planed on all four surfaces. They are cut, shaped and/or embossed in a decorative manner and conceals surface or angle joints. Moldings for wood floors are also have a coned or projecting surface. Moldings for wood floors are also referred to as trim.

Here is a guide to various types of moldings for wood floors and their uses in a flooring project:

Another type of transition molding, a "reducer strip" joins laminate flooring to other flooring materials of varying height. A reducer molding is used when transitioning from a wood or laminate floor, to a lower flooring surface, such as a vinyl floor or painted concrete. One more application could be at a sliding glass door, but only if there is no lip or track protruding above the floor.

"T-molding" is another type of transition molding. It is for use in doorways or thresholds to join two areas of floor on the same height level. T-molding gets its name from its shape. For laminate flooring, it also fills the gap at doorways.

"Stair nose" is used to trim out the exposed outer edges of step-downs and staircases covered by laminate or wood flooring. It is available in two styles: flush and overlap.

"Quarter round" and "wall base" moldings for wood floors are used to cover the expansion gap between the flooring and the wall.

This type of transition molding is also known as 'end mold,' 'end cap,' 'universal edge,' or 'baby threshold'. In a flooring installation process, a square nosed molding is used at exterior doorways to finish the space where the laminate flooring ends. It is the most commonly used transition molding. Unlike the quarter round or wall base, this one is used to transition from a wood or laminate floor to another type of flooring. It is also used against sliding glass door tracks and metal thresholds of exterior doors, or to join a floor or surface that is higher than the new floor.