Vinyl/PVC baseboard and slanted floor???

[R5P7Duster]

Hey guys looking for some advice here. My floor pitches toward the doors which I suppose is normal. But what I'm having a hard time trying to figure out is how to finish the bottom of the drywall, since the footing stays level and the floor drops. I'd like to use vinyl or PVC baseboard, but I'm just not sure it would look good floating 6" off the floor by the doors.

Let me add that this isn't the only problem. The footing also wanders around a bit so, in some areas the edge is less than 1/2" from the bottom plate and it goes all the way to almost 1" from the bottom plate so it's past flush with drywall. So I can't really run say a 7" baseboard without kicking it out where the footing wanders.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.





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[TonkaJoe]

I had a very similar problem with my one wall.. except mine was more like 1 1/2 inch of a parturition at the worst spot, and it tapered off to almost flush with the drywall like yours at either end of the garage.. Same side of the door as well!. I put up steel wainscoting over the old drywall so I was able to simply use strapping to frame out 2'' and go over the foundation and put my steel up almost flush to the floor. Since you have MUCH nicer walls than what I started with I would suggest possibly running trim along the top edge of the foundation to cover the cut edges of the drywall, then cover the foundation showing using an epoxy flooring.. I've seen a few garages on here who had a similar problem and did not only the floor but that extra little bit of foundation and it turned out really nice. Have a look at my build thread, and you'll see how I was able to work around the same problem you have. Good luck!
- Joe http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=306497

here's how bad mine was..

 

[R5P7Duster]

Thanks for the idea. Yeah my drywall is fresh. Just painted it. Trying to finish the bottom so I can move stuff back to this side of the garage and tear the bench down on the other side so I can insulate and drywall that side. The wainscoting is a good idea, unfortunately my receptacles only about 18" from the floor so I'd have to deal with them not landing in the lows.

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[larry4406]

We often finish our garages for use as a sales center in our model homes and have to run painted base molding at this location.

We measure from the ceiling down to the floor at the "rear" and "front" of the side walls to determine the slab pitch. We then use 1x10 PVC and start with the base molding being about 5" tall at the "rear" (high side) and taper the base taller towards the front. The rear and front walls are then cut to match. We then run a piece of PVC OG on top of the 1x. This keeps the top of the base dead level so that if you have painted horizontal stripes, outlets or chair rail and wainscoting as in our models case, all remains parallel.

Alternately, run your base of choice following the slab. With this method, the downhill pitch may become very noticeable if you have painted horizontal stripes, low wall outlets, etc.

 

[The Cobbler]

Use 1x6 ( or whatever to cover the highest point) and run it with the floor. leave it up off the floor if you plan on getting the floor wet often.

 

[johnoutdoors]

You can put a filler strip behind your trim to help it stand off the wall farther than the footing. That will leave you with a flat ledge on top that you could disguise with a piece of quarter round or cove. You can use it as an out of the way spot to run air lines or conduit too.

 

[KenC]

use these two together:

We measure from the ceiling down to the floor at the "rear" and "front" of the side walls to determine the slab pitch. We then use 1x10 PVC and start with the base molding being about 5" tall at the "rear" (high side) and taper the base taller towards the front. The rear and front walls are then cut to match. We then run a piece of PVC OG on top of the 1x. This keeps the top of the base dead level so that if you have painted horizontal stripes, outlets or chair rail and wainscoting as in our models case, all remains parallel

You can put a filler strip behind your trim to help it stand off the wall farther than the footing. That will leave you with a flat ledge on top that you could disguise with a piece of quarter round or cove. You can use it as an out of the way spot to run air lines or conduit too.

I've also found that I can blue PVC trim with pipe cement! So, you could glue the two pieces together and use a router to shape the edge for a really nice look.

 

[myredracer]

Just install the PVC (or MDF, or whatever) sitting on top of the horizontal foundation wall. Once you have the garage full of stuff, you won't notice at all. You *could* paint the exposed part of the foundation wall the wall color or floor color to make a bit less noticeable.

I have the same thing happening. I was originally going to install a baseboard, but after the garage was loaded with equip., tools, shelving, cars and other stuff, you'd never know there wasn't a baseboard unless you went looking. Baseboard can also interfere with things like shelving that needs to be tight against a wall.

 

[tab2]

All of this, you don't NEED the OG profile, but it will look better.

use these two together:

We measure from the ceiling down to the floor at the "rear" and "front" of the side walls to determine the slab pitch. We then use 1x10 PVC and start with the base molding being about 5" tall at the "rear" (high side) and taper the base taller towards the front. The rear and front walls are then cut to match. We then run a piece of PVC OG on top of the 1x. This keeps the top of the base dead level so that if you have painted horizontal stripes, outlets or chair rail and wainscoting as in our models case, all remains parallel

You can put a filler strip behind your trim to help it stand off the wall farther than the footing. That will leave you with a flat ledge on top that you could disguise with a piece of quarter round or cove. You can use it as an out of the way spot to run air lines or conduit too.

I've also found that I can blue PVC trim with pipe cement! So, you could glue the two pieces together and use a router to shape the edge for a really nice look.

 

[CJ7VFR]

What about installing the PVC trim straight along the base of the drywall where it meets the footer, and then painting the trim, plus the part of the footer that is showing all the same color?

This would make the trim and the footer basically blend together and not appear very noticeable.

Or, put in the trim and then paint the wall, the trim and the footer all the same color and it will all blend together. Then you can add in some accent stripes or something about half way up the wall to break up the monotone finish of the wall.

Jim

 

[Git]

You need to "Scribe" it to the floor

Temporarily attach the baseboard to the wall so that the bottom is on the highest point of the floor and the top is level

What is the biggest gap between the bottom and the basement and the floor? (for example you mentioned 6")

Take a board or block of wood slightly taller than the gap so that when you place a pencil on the top you can make a mark on the baseboard. Slide the board down the garage floor - marking the baseboard where you need to cut.

Here is an example I found - obviously your gap is going to be bigger and if the gap is 6" your going to need a board wider than that to start with

 

[matt_i]

Where your concrete wanders side to side, I'd use the grinder with appropriate disc and just dress down the high spots. Set a stringline on the floor for a reference if it helps, or just use the drywall.

Unless...one wanted to use a thick trim piece or a built-up double thickness and simply cut or form a "rabbet" where its not actually touching the whole way down on the bottom. In other words the depth or the rabbet would be deep enough to clear the highest projection of the concrete out-of-plane. The rest would just be clearance, don't kick it too hard, please.

 

[TX RamRod]

I used to do trim work. When we put baseboard in garages we always ran it level. I think having the trim run unlevel with floor would look draw more attention than having a gap that will blend in with the concrete. So my suggestion would be that same as some above, run it level at the top of the footer. I should look better and eliminate your need to address the "wandering" footer.

 

[ishiboo]

We often finish our garages for use as a sales center in our model homes and have to run painted base molding at this location.

We measure from the ceiling down to the floor at the "rear" and "front" of the side walls to determine the slab pitch. We then use 1x10 PVC and start with the base molding being about 5" tall at the "rear" (high side) and taper the base taller towards the front. The rear and front walls are then cut to match. We then run a piece of PVC OG on top of the 1x. This keeps the top of the base dead level so that if you have painted horizontal stripes, outlets or chair rail and wainscoting as in our models case, all remains parallel.

Alternately, run your base of choice following the slab. With this method, the downhill pitch may become very noticeable if you have painted horizontal stripes, low wall outlets, etc.

I like this. The floor isn't level, no way to hide that... and if you mount cabinets or anything it's going to look really dumb if someone runs the trim on the floor.

PVC is the way to go too.

 

[R5P7Duster]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I'm leaning more towards running PVC level with the wall/bottom plate. Running along the floor seems like a lot of extra concrete grinding work. Doing some research online I found some 6" diamond plate and brushed SS. This would do the trick too and would protect the drywall from Jack stands, floor jacks, cherry picker, and engine stands, when putting them against the wall out of the way.

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[hh76]

I just set my base on top of the stem wall. It's not a perfect finish, but it is straight, and that wall was exposed for only about two days before the workbench, and tools covered it up.

No need to overthink it.