Your floor is done! Or is it?

Your floor is done! Or is it?

So many consumers overlook one of the more important finishing touches – moldings.

We all pretty much know how the top functions of molding, the pragmatic ones, which are to transition from one surface to another and to conceal joints, cavities or rough edges… but what about the aesthetic one?


Types of Molding and What they Do

Consider this: Donald M. Rattner, Director of the Institute for the Study of Classical Architecture at New York University, takes them a step further, stating that “When you understand moldings, you understand much about classical architecture – the foundation of all traditional designs.”


Is he saying that moldings (alternatively spelled mouldings) have design function? Absolutely! As moldings conceal expansion joints between floors and walls, they also serve as a visual “foot” for the weight of the wall “resting” on the floor, and they signal where wall ends and the floor begins. They also soften the transition between vertical and horizontal.

For just about any project, you may need moldings (i.e. wall base and quarter-round) to frame your floor or to ease the flow to another type of flooring, or to call attention to features such as doors, fire places, steps and landings.

Reducer strips provide smooth transition to floors of different heights and the transition to marble, vinyl, granite, slate, cork, carpet, or other flooring materials.

T-molding is a smooth and subtle way to join two flooring surfaces of approximately the same height.

Bi-level reducer moldings have a unique profile for pleasing transitions between hardwood and tile, parquet or carpet of a different height.

You can find threshold moldings to join flooring of different heights at doorways, stair nosing for a stair edge or landing and specialty items like hardwood vents. If you think about it, the floor vent is a complex molding that does everything an architectural molding will do, plus it keeps air moving.

So don’t forget the molding! It’s the finishing touch for your floor.