Tarkett Rubber & Vinyl Moldings
[traditional-wall-base]
One of the most important accessories to all styles of flooring is rubber and vinyl wall base. Otherwise known as a baseboard, you’ll see this placed along the edges of interior walls. The purpose behind wall bases is to cover the joint between the wall’s surface and the floor.For aesthetic purposes in your home or business, these are obviously essential. Where do you buy them, though, and what brands provide the best options?
Tarkett rubber and vinyl base is one of the best brands in the world. Even if you’re familiar with this name, you may have a lot of questions about wall base, including other brand options.
Take a look at these 11 questions and answers to help you make a more educated buying decision.
1. What’s the Difference Between Rubber and Vinyl Wall Base?
Those of you new to buying wall base may wonder what the difference is between rubber and vinyl. As Tarkett says in their FAQ on the matter, wall bases are never made of 100% rubber. If they were, everything would bounce off the base.
Many people assume when they see “rubber wall base”, it means it’s entirely made of the material. You’ll only find between 15%-25% of rubber compound in Tarkett wall base products.
Rubber is obviously quite different from vinyl. The latter isn’t nearly as durable as rubber, and the price differences are somewhat wider as a result. Vinyl always costs less because it’s made with inexpensive polymers. Rubber will cost a little more because of its extreme durability if placing your wall base around a high-traffic area.
Through Tarkett, either material will hold up well. It resists scuffing, fading, cracking and won’t shrink or separate from the wall. All of this is thanks to using top quality materials, even when applying vinyl to the product.
2. What Type of Wall Base Do You Use in a Home vs. Commercial Space?
Whether buying your Tarkett wall base for your home or for your business, you’ll want to know which type of base best suits these environments.
A lot of this depends on the purpose behind your wall base in either setting, not including types of walls or flooring you have. Most people choose .080 vinyl for their homes, simply because it’s more affordable. If you don’t need as much durability in your home, vinyl is a good choice, even though Tarkett’s vinyl holds up well.
Most commercial businesses use .125 or 1/8” rubber wall base to help bring extra durability if dealing with considerable foot traffic every day. Using wall base around busy doorways or hallways is a good example of why you’d want to use durable rubber in a commercial setting.
Keep in mind you can often get a rubber/vinyl mix to your wall base, which is usually available inexpensively. As far as aesthetics are concerned, rubber wall base has a dull matte finish. In comparison, vinyl frequently has a shiny look.
These are all factors you’ll want to consider seriouslybefore making a final decision for your home or business.
3. What Are Some Other Brands of Wall Base?
Tarkett isn’t the only top name in the wall base industry. Many other brands give you the same amount ofquality and affordability. Some of these names are possibly familiar if you’ve done floor shopping in the past.
Flexco is usually considered equally as popular as Tarkett. With Flexco, you’ll be able to buy wall base for generally around 70 cents per ft. In their rubber flooring brands, you’ll find everything from Tuflex Force to ESD Rubber. They also offer a number of distinct designs for more customization.
Some other notable brand names include Roppe, Burke, and VPI Flooring. One of the most recognizable wall base names is Armstrong. If you’ve purchased any flooring products from them in the past, you know they offer the most durable floors in the world. Their wall base is right up there with Tarkett, even if it does cost a little more.
4. What Kind of Colors Can You Choose for Your Wall Base?
To match your walls, floor, and other interior spaces, you’ll want some level of customization, including color variety. Tarkett accommodates this well with a varied color guide.
Their guide notes how important color is in more than just aesthetics. It can also alter moods, which is something to think more about in your commercial business.
The guide also helps you through the various steps needed to properly choose a color. For instance, they offer a color foundations feature to help you match neutrals for propercoordination with the type of wall base you’re using.
Color coordination is an important step, giving you an integrated palette for simpler selection. Even color matching is an essential step here. You’ll find 36 colors to create a perfect mix and match for either rubber or vinyl wall bases.
Some of the unique colors you’ll find at Tarkett include Snow White for the brightest color to Harbour on the darker side. Normal light and dark colors are available from Silver Grey to standard black.
5. What Are the Sizes Wall Base Comes in?
Thanks to Tarkett’s attention to customization, you’ll be able to find the perfect wall base size as well. You can get it in different heights, lengths, and thickness levels.
Tarkett wall base alone comes in four different heights, namely 4-inch, 6-inch, 2.5-inch, and 4.5-inch. You can also get a 4”x4’ size to fit all wall shapes. Typically, cartons contain 120 feet of cove base in 4-foot increments. It’s also possible to buy it as a continual roll.
Thickness levels range from .080” to 1/8” to help provide extra durability. You’ll want to consider a six-inch base if you’ve had prior water damage to your wall and need to cover the noticeable blemishes.
6. What Are the Most Common Color Shades?
While we mentioned some of the colors available above, you’ll want to know about some other common shades to give you the most variety.
When you take a look at Tarkett’s color guide above, you’ll see they divide their color palettes into four different categories. The first one is for rubber wall base accessories. The next palette is strictly for rubber wall base, giving you many traditional colors like Taupe, Flame, and Denim.
Another color palette for wall base offers various unique color tones to give you more choice than ever. Color names like Manatee, Welsh Castle, Terra Firma, and Midnight are examples of the standout looks you’ll find here.
Even a color palette for metallics is available, which includes colors like White Pearl, Coronado, and Steel.
If you’re still new to using wall base, you’ll want to know what its real purpose is. It’s easy to take wall base for granted, especially because so many people don’t notice it in hallways or near doorways.
The point of using it is to protect walls and corners from scuffs and bumps from things like footwear or vacuum cleaners.
How many times have people in your home or business bumped the side of the walls with their feet, usually by accident? When you have kids often running up and down hallways, you know how this can happen.
Your business’s overnight maintenance crew may continually bump the lower part of your walls and corners with their vacuums. How many times have you noticed damage from a.m. maintenance workers who’ve caused damage to your walls?
Now you see the true importance of wall base, including protection from natural elements.
8. What Are Corner Pieces of Wall Base Used For?
All corner pieces are special order from the mill
Don’t forget about the corner pieces of your wall base. These are just as important as the straight pieces you’ll use along hallways or in rooms.
Corner pieces are obviously needed for cornered areas of doors where foot traffic is even more intense. Hallways also have corners in many corporate settings or public buildings. Some of these corners are possibly numerous and have people walking around them (including transporting equipment) every day for long hours.
You’re also going to have inside corners of specific wall crevices and outside corners.
When you buy your corner pieces through us at Floor City, it’s going to require a special order. We’ll easily accommodate this for you so every corner in your building or home is fully protected.
9. What is the Average Cost of Installation?
Many first-time buyers wonder how easy installation is with wall base. Tarkett makes it fairly easy to install, though you do need a little bit of care.
It’s certainly possible to install it yourself if you have the proper tools and know exactly what you’re doing. First, you need to sand the area where the base goes. Then you’ll unroll the cove base. This gives you a continual roll until you come to a doorway.
Next, you need to apply an adhesive to the base’s backside. Be sure to use a V-notched trowel to apply this correctly. Applying the adhesive is going to mean keeping a ¼” inch distance from the top. The reason for this is the adhesive could seep out of the top area if not applied in the right way.
Simply press the base against your wall, but move it up and down a tad to make sure the adhesive sticks
One good trick in making the base more flexible for going around corners is to use a hair dryer.
If you need more help in your installation, we’ll give you direction here at Floor City.
10. What is the Average Cost Per Foot Of Wall Base Products?
The great thing about wall base is it’s not overly expensive. Of course, much of this goes by the brand you choose. Most of the brands mentioned above are within the same average price per foot. Tarkett is generally around 79 cents per foot for 4-inch pieces. Six-inch pieces run at $1.44 per foot.
Brands like Flexco have the same pricing structure, if sometimes a cent or two more. Armstrong is at $1.01 per foot for 4-inch pieces.
All these brands give you excellent quality, no matter what price range you choose. One thing you can depend on is that when you buy wall base molding at Floor City, you’ll get a better discount than buying directly through the manufacturer. It’s the same when shopping through any other online source.
You can count on never paying over $3 per foot for any type of wall base.
Conclusion: Wall Base Isn’t Usually Available at Home Depot or Lowe’s
Did you know that wall base isn’t widely available in popular home supply stores like Lowe’s or Home Depot? It’s still mostly a niche item these stores don’t offer because they figure it won’t sell well.
Only at Floor City can you find Tarkett wall base and all other quality brands. Because we’re one of the fewretailers selling it, we’ve become one of the top sellers of wall base in the nation.
Our goal is to help educate you on wall base and the many types of matching flooring products you can use at home or commercial settings. Thanks to our prices being mostly atdiscount, you’ll find many bargains without sacrificing quality.
How to Order Wall Base Online...
To make it easier, we ship direct to your home or business. We also offer free local pickups in many towns and cities across America.
Simply call us at (800)-898-9540 to order your wall base through our store. Use our Pickup Locations to find out where you can pick up your product locally. While we’re based in Vancouver, WA, you can pick up your wall base as far as the U.S. east coast.
Tarkett is still a shining star in wall base and various types of flooring. It’s worth checking out their site to see what you need so we can accommodate your interior upgrades.
