# Attaching Wood Trim to Brick / Concrete



## BigBadBuford

I am installing a Pergo floating floor in my basement and I'm not sure how to finish off the trim in a few spots. 

We have a brick pad laid on the floor where a coal stove sits. I was going to install either quarter round or shoe molding around it, but I don't have a way to attach it. Would this normally be glued to the brick? Even though I plan on keeping this floor a long time, I'd like a way to attach it that wouldn't permanently mar the brick in case I have to remove it some day.

The other area is where I meet the stairs. Around the rest if the basement I plan on installing the baseboard above the floor, but I'm not sure how to handle the bottom of the skirt board and bottom riser since they sit tight against the floor. I don't think using trim in just these two spots would look right. Would these typically be trimmed to allow the flooring to slide underneath?

Thanks!
John


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## Steve Neul

As far as attaching trim to brick, I just use a small amount of liquid nails and tack it to the brick with a 1 1/2" 16ga. nail in the mortar line. Not using the liquid nails you might experiment with longer nails. It wouldn't mar the brick, you would just need to touch up the mortar if you did away with it. 

Without a picture it's hard to visualize the stairway. If the baseboard goes up to the stairs, I would just stop it on each side. Since you have a floating floor you would need to at least run quarter around the base of the stairs.


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## ccrow

+1 what Steve said.

Another option- If you kept away from the wall the 1/4 required for a floating floor you could take your 1/4 rnd moulding press it near the wall and pin nail down into the flooring.


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## BigBadBuford

Here are a few pics of the area around the brick pad and the stairs. I might try using the liquid nails.. I'm no good nailing into mortar and I don't know if my nail gun is up to the task. The floor is only 7 mm thick so I don't know if the floor would be thick enough to nail into.

Thanks for the advice so far!
John


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## Trav

I would undercut the brick with a jamb saw with a diamond or carbrundum (sp?) blade and run the flooring underneath. Jamb saws are available for rent at all the tool rental stores near me so if you have one close check there.


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## Steve Neul

The existing trim around the stairway looks fine to me. I would just run quarter round across the front and all down the left side. 

If you are worried about the liquid nails on the brick, it can be cleaned off with paint and varnish remover if you decide to do away with the trim later. It isn't easy and takes a lot of elbow grease but can be done. 

You shouldn't nail your quarter round into the floor. It should be nailed into the brick. The idea is the floor should be able move so that it can expand and contract under the quarter round. It can sometimes be problematic nailing into mortar but most of the time it works fine. It would largely depend on how hard the mortar it. I would at least try it.


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## Eagleeye

Ttharp said:


> I would undercut the brick with a jamb saw with a diamond or carbrundum (sp?) blade and run the flooring underneath. Jamb saws are available for rent at all the tool rental stores near me so if you have one close check there.


+1
Much cleaner look.. if it's not to late.


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## SteveEl

I'm interested in this idea too.... how do jam saws work... by which I mean how do you keep a straight line? And for brick, what blade and technique?

For undercutting wood, I've always used a scrap of floor and my oscillating multitool (wish I'd got the Feinmaster, but have a Dremel)


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## Eagleeye

Angle grinder works for the morter under the brick. Makes a mess though.


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## jessrj

PL Premium adhesive is best and you can set it with hot glue. This will allow the PL to dry in place. Once the PL dries if then it can't go anywhere.


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## Trav

There are several different types of jamb saws. The kind I would use, Crain 825, looks like a big 6 inch grinder with a carbide toothed blade on it for cutting the wood. The saw has a guide on it that rides on the floor so that the height of the cut is adjustable. For cutting the brick just replace the carbide blade with a masonry blade and the process is the same. 

This is what I am referring to:
http://www.craintools.com/fs-specialtysaws.html


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## cfullen

Brick
Use Powergrab. Works great. I would make sure your pieces fit nicely, nail all outside corners together, then slip it into place with a small bead of powergrab on the back side of the quarter round. I have seen flooring guys in my area make small pieces that essentially sit on the flat and are nailed to the floor. I have never seen them have problems. The floor moves, but it wont move in that small area that its nailed to if it has room to move in other directions.
Staircase
Just run quarter round continuously around it. White quarter round may look weird on the oak riser though. Think about painting it white so that all of the trim flows?


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## jessrj

SteveEl said:


> I'm interested in this idea too.... how do jam saws work... by which I mean how do you keep a straight line? And for brick, what blade and technique?
> 
> For undercutting wood, I've always used a scrap of floor and my oscillating multitool (wish I'd got the Feinmaster, but have a Dremel)


Yep the oscillating tool is nice but it doesn't handle brick well. You will burn up your blades before you can blink. For wood they are great tho.


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## BigBadBuford

Here are some pics of the finished project. I used Powergrab to attach the quarter round to the brick. It worked pretty good, except on the one side where all the bricks aren't quite flush, but overall looks good. I ended up having to run shoe molding around the entire room.. The floor had some slight dips and I didn't like the gaps under the base trim without it. To handle the oak riser I undercut it with a multi-tool so I could slip the floor underneath. I put a return on the shoe molding so there is no molding in front of the oak riser.


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## TS3660

That looks very nice.


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