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Good Questions: It is Possible to Use Veneer Baseboards?

baseboard051309.jpgVanessa writes: Hi-I am almost done remodeling my place and am on to baseboards. I would like to use something that is "less"-impact, like oak veneer, rather than solid boards. I have searched high and low on both the internet and local lumber yards to no avail. This is expecially puzzling since door jambs of oak veneer are common, but only available in shorter lengths than practical for baseboards. Can you help?

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Comments (10)

i'm not sure i understand...you want moulding that has just a veneer or solid wood on it? i suppose there is moulding that doen's end up painted, but i've never seen it. i've seen mostly pine moulding and vinyl moudling...wouldn't pine be okay?

posted by darlingcaro on May 22nd 2009 at 9:40am
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If you're planning to paint the trim, have you looked at MDF? We did this in our place. It looks great, costs less and you can't tell the difference.

posted by Kelly2M on May 22nd 2009 at 9:50am
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The tricky thing about using veneer on moulding is that curving veneer to a complicated profile is very difficult. It's best used on flat surfaces. Also, with a veneered product, you have to consider what the substrate is, many times it's a particle board or mdf that may offgass VOC's, solid oak may be a better choice. If you are concerned about environmental impact, look for moulding that has been FSC certified. Even Home Depot has started carrying FSC wood products in the store (though I'm not sure if any of them are oak). Hope this helps.

posted by elissa on May 22nd 2009 at 9:57am
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If you're concerned about the environmental impact of your baseboards, you could also consider using recovered baseboards from deconstructed buildings or ones made from recovered lumber.

posted by Michelle of Montreal on May 22nd 2009 at 10:05am
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darlingcaro, wood moldings with a clear finish are fairly common.

Vanessa, it sounds like you want the look of oak trim without using a lot of oak for environmental reasons. That said, I have never seen baseboards veneered in wood. You can get MDF with a sort of paper covering (maybe what's called foil?) that is printed with an oak grain pattern, but I think that's more for window and door trim, not baseboards. Baseboards get a lot of wear and tear from furniture and vacuum cleaners bumping against them. Veneer would not hold up well against this.

If you're really set on having oak, you could look into oak veneer plywood. You'd have to add an ogee molding to the top that is wide enough to cover the cut edge of the plywood, though. And you'd have to have a table saw to cut the 4x8 sheets accurately. And even then, you'd only get 8' lengths so it's probably not very practical.

posted by spanky on May 22nd 2009 at 10:11am
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I don't know if vaneers are more environmentally responsible than solid wood with all the glues and what not. Follow Elissa's suggestion for FSC certified wood or, even better, Michelle of Montreal's suggestion for recovered baseboards.

posted by fancyd on May 22nd 2009 at 10:47am
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Just get MDF and paint.

posted by bepsf on May 22nd 2009 at 10:59am
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Timbron is a very eco friendly 90% recycled Content. zero VOC
http://www.timbron.com/127.htm

posted by LoriSF on May 22nd 2009 at 11:41am
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Veneers can only be applied to flat planar surfaces.

posted by designy on May 22nd 2009 at 11:59am
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Johnsonite makes some fairly believable wood-grained rubber trim pieces. You'd have to decide if that seems more environmentally friendly than solid oak though...

posted by lemonadefish on May 26th 2009 at 1:31pm
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