Inexpensive Baseboard and Grout Staining
We pulled out the old peel and stick flooring from the house and had faux wood tile installed. That means we also had to remove all the old baseboards. But buying new baseboards was too expensive so we decided to go a more "rustic" way and instead, we bought treated pickets.
Installing tile...
You can see how we needed to cover where the old baseboards were.
So, a typical baseboard costs about .70 a foot. Then you have to paint with oil base paint and so on.
A 6ft treated picket costs $1.68. So, do the math. Yes, a 6ft piece of baseboard would cost at least $4.20.
We did take off 1/2" lengthwise so that the boards where just 5" from floor to top of baseboard. Then we cut the lengths to fit into the area and sanded them with an electric sander but just enough so that it was smooth enough to apply a stain.
We sort of made our own stain mixing a dark minwax stain we had with burnt motor oil and some Thompson's water sealant.
Used an inexpensive brush to apply making sure you apply to the top edge also.
Install the piece using a nail gun but first mark with a pencil where the studs are.
After installing the first piece, measure the adjacent wall and cut to fit. Repeat until you have finished the room.
In this picture, I had already stained the grout.
By the way, notice that white grout!
I used a brown acrylic paint mixed with grout sealer (about two parts sealer to one part paint) and an eyedropper to apply. It was very easy.
Here is one area of the house with the baseboard and stained grout all done. Big difference!!
Comments
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I love this. Super cost effective solution. Love the idea of mixing stain with the grout sealer. You can get the color you want and seal at the same time. And adding stain to Thompson Water Seal is genius.
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Great ideas and beautiful work. TYFS!!
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Curious why you just didn’t use colored grout to start with. It’s the same cost as white?????