Do you use caulk when putting quarter round down on hardwood floors?

Question

We have installed floating hardwood floors. We had a handy man come in and do the quarter round. I understand we need to caulk between the quarter round and the baseboards, but do we caulk between the quarter round and the floating floor? My husband says no, but I just saw a newly built house where the builder did do that. What is the right way!? When I look it up online no one says to use caulk there, but then I always go back to 'why did the builder do it then on that other house?' PLEASE HELP! We want this to look professional. Please only offer advice if you know.

Answer 1

Caulk only between the quater round and the baseboard.  Since your floor is a floating floor, it needs ample room to expand and contract.  If the gap between the floor and the quarter round is eliminated, the caulk will split from the floor moving and there is a slight, albeit VERY slight, chance that the floor could buckle in some places if the room for expansion is not there.

Answer 2

Quarter-round "shoe moulding" looks best stained to match flooring. Painted shoe mould, by virtue of where it is, at the floor, will get marred and chipped if it's painted. Staining is best.

It's best to get oak shoe mould as oak is hard enough to take the knocks it will receive, it takes a decent stain and can be re-used. It should be nailed in place, no caulking should be necessary along either edge. It should be easily removable for when the floors will need sanding and re-finishing. A first-class job is to cut and fit the shoe mould and partly drive the nails, then, pop it back off to stain and varnish it, and then nail it in place after all that, filling nail holes with colored filler to match the stain.

I don't put a lot of faith in modern construction. We've just come off of an astounding flood of newly built houses in the USA while there's been a dearth of truly skilled talent available to work on them so that a lot of work was done by unskilled day laborers from other countries. Much of what I've see done in contemporary construction would not have been acceptable twenty years ago, but people just shrug their shoulders and accept it now. If you saw a new house with the shoe moulding caulked to the floor it was either done to hide shoddy work or because some day laborer didn't know any better.

Answer 3

caulk between quarter round (shoe) and base is cosmetic. caulking between the shoe and the floor would be like glueing the flooring to the shoe. your floating floor needs to move. that's why you left the space between flooring and base. your husband is correct. do not glue (caulk) the floor to the shoe.

Answer 4

Your husband is Right! caulk will dry up and crack.