My Living Room #2: Trim out the fireplace.

I am having trouble with the link you posted Mark. Is it just me? or is there something wrong with it? https—s3.amazonaws.com-hrimgs-m8d2jk4.jpg

-- I found the board stretcher... finally!

I can’t see Image either Mark.

-- Nick, Virgina Beach, http://lumberjocks.com/nonickswood/projects

Hi guys, thanks for looking. I’m in a rush. I’ll fix the link a little later.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

I’ll go about this a little differently I think. Gary’s picture was of a complete make over. I’m hoping to do a decent job that will be fine for 6 months to a year. I’m not ready to do the fireplace makeover yet.

Unfortunately, I’m at work and I won’t be able to get a new picture until tomorrow evening. But there was an old photo here at Home Refurbers

Here is the the hearthstone (Covered in junk)

Here is what the flooring looks like (Again this was on homerefurbers)

I have an unsightly gap between all my brick work and this floor. I don’t want a permanent solution but I’m thinking I can use some baseboard trim to cover the gap.

Would base board look bad? If you think it’s a bad idea – I’ll live with the gap until I can do the fireplace resurface.

If that is an acceptable solution, how do I attach it? My guess is liquid nails.
I appreciate any input you can give me.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Hey Mark. Not sure if this was the pic or not.
Anyhow, this is before and after of one I did that seems to be similiar to your hearth.
I knocked off the top brick and in this instance put on granite but anything of your choice (limestone, new brick, bluestone, soapstone, faux stone, tile, marble, etc.) would work as well.
Just a wood wrap with a base molding applied.

-- The difference between a pro and an amateur, an amateur points out his mistakes

Howdy Gary – YOU dug it up! Those are the pictures. Even in your photos, I can see exactly what I’m worried about. Uneven floor. I think I can handle it though. Thank you so much my friend.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Hey Mark, I’m checking out some of your projects.

Base board is usually for drywall and paneled walls. In this situation, you should consider using a shoe mold and brad nail it to the floor. If I had installed the floor, I would have scribed the butt joint to the stone so it fits tight, no trim needed. If you use shoe, it will follow the floor and hide the gap.

The reason why I would avoid trim all together is because, now you have a third color or medium at that spot. Stained oak floor to white trim to natural brick. Plus, the white shoe in front will get beat up and need to be touched up constantly. You can’t help but kick it everytime you open the FP door.

I would consider shoe mold that matches the floor. Your hearth isn’t that tall, not a lot of room for drywall, base and shoe. If you skinned the top and the sides with stone, this would solve all your problems.

To save money, you can buy granite 12×12 tiles for the sides that match the granite top and scribe them to the floor to cover the gap – no trim needed.

One last thing, if you do use base only, like a 3 1/8” colonial, buy 4 1/4 col. base and scribe it to the uneven floor.

Hope this helps.

Ps. Gary – nice cabinet! Where’s the shoe?!! Ha! I know, it’s on the list. right?

-- mark - Grayslake IL.

Thank you Mark,

I have some of that flooring left. I’ve got a crazy idea about making some shoe molding out of it. Since it’s engineered, I’ll have to bevel it and make a really thin strip. I’ll give it a go and see if my saw wants to tear it up too much. I’ll put a thin kerf blade on it and see what happens. That should be a decent solution until I do a complete resurface.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

How did it work?
Do they make a shoe mold in that material/ color? You might have to order it.
You could also use oak shoe and stain it as close as possible.

-- mark - Grayslake IL.

Mark,

Haven’t done it yet. I’ll give a report on Sunday. It should look pretty decent.

However – It’s Teak. The floor get’s a little darker every week. The only thing Im worried about with oak trim is trying to get close on the stain and missing. I’ll do it anyway. Making trim out of engineered flooring is too much hassle and I can think of anything I can make that won’t look wierd. I’m going with Oak shoe Molding.

Thanks for the advice!

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

By the way,

I really screwed up my lines on this job. Out of all the things I did in my house over the past 16 months, the flooring in the living room is the only thing I am really displeased with. I learned a lot of lessons that weekend. All of them – the hard way. Still – I’m not seeing my mistakes like I thought I would. That is at least some solace.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

I found a decent color match at lowes. It’s called autumn. Looks pretty good. I’ll install tomorrow along with the base boards.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.