Baseboard

Baseboard Moulding in Every Material and Profile

Baseboard runs along the base of an interior wall to cover the joint between the wall and the floor, protect the wall from kicks and furniture, and give a room a finished look. This category carries base moulding in three materials, solid hardwood, cellular PVC, and polyurethane, across the full range of profiles, so a project can be matched on both the look and the practical demands of the space. Baseboard is an almost entirely interior application, and the material choice usually comes down to the finish you want and whether moisture is a factor in the room.

Solid Hardwood Base Moulding in 10 Species

The premium hardwood base moulding is solid, stain-grade lumber in FAS grade, the highest grade in the standard hardwood grading scale, selected for clean, largely defect-free faces suitable for a stained finish. It is offered in ten species, red oak, white oak, walnut, cherry, maple, poplar, alder, knotty alder, sapele mahogany, and pine, plus Select-grade primed fingerjoint pine for a stable, paint-ready option. Each profile is offered across the full material range, so you choose the profile first and then the species that suits the room. This breadth of stocked solid-hardwood base is unusual: most lumberyards carry a limited species selection and special-order the rest at a premium with a long lead time. These ship from inventory, typically arriving in about a week at a far lower cost than a special order.

Classic WM Profiles for Matching Existing Trim

The hardwood base moulding follows classic WM profiles, the standardized millwork profile numbers used across the industry, including patterns like WM620, WM623, WM618, WM518, and WM217. Because these are standard profiles rather than proprietary shapes, they make it far easier to match or extend existing trim in a home without custom milling. If a room already has a WM-profile base and it needs to be continued or repaired, specifying the same WM number in the same species keeps the run consistent.

Ogee, Flat, Base Cap, and Shoe Profiles

The profile sets the character of the base. An ogee base moulding carries the traditional S-curve profile that reads as a more formal, decorative baseboard. A flat baseboard moulding is a cleaner, squared profile that suits modern and transitional interiors, and it can be dressed up by adding a base cap along its top edge. Base cap moulding is a small profiled moulding run along the top of a flat base to add a decorative crown to it, while shoe moulding is the slim, flexible moulding run along the bottom where the base meets the floor, covering the gap and any unevenness in the flooring. Many finished installations combine these, a flat or profiled base, a base cap on top, and shoe moulding at the floor, to build up a fuller, more traditional baseboard.

PVC and Urethane for Moisture-Prone Rooms

While solid hardwood is the choice for a stained, natural-wood baseboard, cellular PVC and polyurethane are the practical picks where moisture is a factor, such as bathrooms, basements, laundry rooms, and mudrooms. Both resist moisture and will not rot, and unlike wood they will not swell or degrade in a damp environment. Both take paint well for a clean, uniform painted baseboard. Between the two, the material choice usually comes down to availability in the profile you want and the finished look you are after, and both ship from stock like the rest of the category.

Choosing Baseboard Height and Profile

Baseboard height is largely an aesthetic decision tied to ceiling height and the look of the room. Taller baseboards read as more substantial and formal and tend to suit rooms with higher ceilings, while shorter profiles are more understated and can look better in rooms with standard or lower ceilings. Matching the base to the room's other trim, such as door and window casing, keeps the whole trim package consistent. When in doubt, matching the height and profile of existing base moulding elsewhere in the home is the safest way to keep a remodel or addition looking intentional.