Ceramic floor tile

[runner]

I've got about 200 sf (a short hallway and a small L-shaped room) where I want to replace the carpet with ceramic tile. I know I could do the job myself, but I'm just not that interested. So my questions are: 1. Do they pull up & put back down the baseboards?, 2. Do you know anyone in Austin who is reputable and reasonably priced for such a small job?, and 3. What is my rule of thumb on the price? Is installation $x/foot like tile? Thanks.

 

[old'un]

Typically tile setters want nothing to do with removal and replacement of the baseboard. You need to have that done, along with the removal of the existing floor finish material, before they get there. You, or someone you hire, will then reinstall the base when they are finished, or replace it with new as you choose.

Labor cost should be in the $ 4-$ 4.50 per square foot range.

 

[Woland]

I am currently going through this one. If you are on pier/beam, expect the cost to be much higher. They will have to take up the base boards. You can save money by not replacing the base boards, depending on the style of the house. Beware, that the tile co may try to charge you a lot for replacement of the boards. Get your estimate itemized.

 

[swTXSU]

If you pull up the carpet yourself, make sure you get all of the glue off the concrete where the carpet pad was glued down. If you don't, you will more than likely have tiles popping up after a few days/weeks where the glue was.

 

[HappyFeller]

You do not need to remove the baseboards. If you currently have the area carpeted, there is probably no shoe mould on the base. Standard procedure is to have a shoe mould with any hard surface floor to fill the gap between the floor material and the base.

All you should have to do is add the shoe after the tile is installed and paint it to match the base. Make sure that the tile installer does a good job of cutting and installing the tiles that notch around the door casings and frames as this is where a tile job can look messy if not done right.

 

[Woland]

HappyFeller is right, they won't have to take up the baseboards. Its any quarter round that will have to be taken up.

 

[El_Guapo]

We had almost the exact same thing done and they just grouted up to the baseboards. We thought about putting in quarter round to cover the grout but it looks fine. On thing you will need to watch is that if your baseboards are painted, you need to be sure they're painted all the way to the bottom, not just to the carpet line because when they pull out the carpet, it will show and you'll need to do some touching up.

Taking up the baseboards is a major pain in the ***. I can't imagine it would be worth the effort unless you have some other issue going on. I would only do it if you absolutely have to.

Can't remember the exact cost but off the top of my head it seems like we were getting bids in the $6-8 per square foot range depending on the tile used. You can also buy the tile separately and hire someone to install, which is what we did. It is in fact $X per square foot. Can't remember exactly what X was but the earlier quote of $4-4.50 sounds about right.

I'll p.m. you the name and number of our guy - he's done a lot of projects for us and he's really good.

I'd recommend you go with minimum 13x13 tile. It doesn't sound like much but it makes a big difference in appearance as compared to 12x12. Also, with that little space, splurge a bit and go with something nicer than a basic Home Depot shelf tile. It won't cost that much more in the long run and believe me, people know which is the $.98 HD tile. We got ours from Leon's but Floor King and some place over off Burnet & Rutland (can't recall the name) also had good stuff.