ᐅ Install baseboards later due to screed and joint formation?

Hello,
we were advised to install the baseboards for our cork flooring only a few years later, as the screed can still settle and gaps may form. Additionally, due to residual moisture and the risk of mold. What is the opinion on this in the forum?

Yes, you can definitely do that.

I would wait a year. Of course, you can proceed immediately, but then there is indeed a risk that a joint will form.
The risk of mold due to residual moisture is nonsense.

You could try installing a "test strip" on a wall to see if you can manage it without a gap today. It’s not only in older buildings that the floor and/or plaster are uneven or bumpy. If you already have gaps now, you might as well install all the strips and then wait for about a year before sealing them with acrylic or silicone.

Hausbaer schrieb:

We were advised to install the baseboards for our cork flooring only a few years later, as the screed can still settle and cause a gap. Also due to residual moisture and the risk of mold. What is the opinion here in the forum?

Hello "Hausbaer".
If the subfloor, in this case the screed, still had (as you fear) a residual moisture content that is too high, the screed would not yet be ready for flooring installation. In that case, installation should not take place!
However, if suitable dryness of the subfloor has been confirmed through measurements, your concern is completely unfounded.
All mineral-based (wet) screeds tend to cup along the edges as they dry. With cement screeds, this process is material-specific and therefore typical and not always avoidable; with calcium sulfate screeds, edge cupping is usually very minimal and negligible.
For tile baseboards, I would agree with your opinion to wait a while before installing. However, for cork flooring and standard baseboards, this is not necessary.
While some edge curling of the screed may later be visible as a gap due to warping, it is simply unavoidable.
But postponing the timely installation of the baseboards for this reason is, from my point of view, excessive.
Since you do not know the extent of the edge curling (and thus the subsequent back-cupping that might lead to gap formation below the baseboards) and, to use a metaphor, you are already bringing out the big guns even though the sparrows haven't even settled on the roof yet.
To summarize: Install the cork flooring and the baseboards as soon as the subfloor is sufficiently dry!
Regards,
KlaRa

KlaRa schrieb:


Because you don’t yet know the extent of the edge cupping (and consequently the reverse cupping, which would later cause gaps to form below the baseboards), and to use a metaphor, you’re already bringing out the heavy artillery before the sparrows have even settled on the roof. To summarize: Install the cork flooring and have the baseboards fitted only once the subfloor is sufficiently dry!
Regards,
KlaRa

Can I conclude from this that gaps are not necessarily going to occur, and therefore I can take the risk of installing the baseboards? The edge cupping will probably vary across the floor, so it might happen that a gap appears only in one spot, for example?