Alternatives for running sheet vinyl floor up the base of the wall?

[Stephen Tashiro]

To run sheet vinyl floor a distance up the wall at the edges of a room requires a support like "cove stick" molding (e.g. http://www.burkeflooring.com/products/mouldings-transitions/mercer-vinyl-mouldings/ 70 and 75). I haven't found this type of molding for sale locally and the last time I ordered it online, it was expensive. Is there a simpler alternative?

I tried cutting the "cove stick" profile out of wood. I using a router to cut the profile in the edge of a wide board and then cutting off a strip of the board to get the molding. However, the cut along the hair thin edges of the profile leaves a jagged edge. The jagged edge might not matter (since the molding goes underneath the flooring, not on top of it) , but I'm interested in simple alternatives.

[Paul F Franklin]

I've had vinyl flooring installed on a couple of basement stairways over the years. In both cases, the installer (different guys, but both experienced guys) simply put a standard quarter round molding in the step/riser corner. They said that even though it only really supports the vinyl in the center of the curve, it would be more than enough support to prevent the corner cracking or "kicking" into the corner. Neither stair ever developed cracks in any of the corners....

Granted, this was with solid vinyl flooring, not the thin layer of vinyl laminated to something else that is common today.

[Tom M King]

There are a bunch of companies that make it. It gets called different names- cove stick, cove fillet, and I forget what else. Google "cove fillet stick", and different companies should come up, and some of them should have lists of suppliers. I've found it in Richmond, Va. before, but that was a long time ago. I would think most large cities would have some sort of supplier.

[Bill Dufour]

Most I have seen in the last 20 years uses a separate cove base. The floor is cut flush to the wall and cove base is attached to the wall. Same as a wood floor. It is not waterproof unless caulked.
Old days they used mortar? to form a round base to mold the flooring up the wall.
I think there is a good amount of art and skill to weave the corners together tight, especially outside corners.
Bill D

[Stephen Tashiro]

Old days they used mortar? to form a round base to mold the flooring up the wall.


That's a good idea. I could use cove baseboard molding and even out the transition between the molding and the concrete slab by using a little levelling compound.

In case the floor is re-done in the future, I don't want put down a lot of levelling compound that would need to be removed, but a little bit of it wouldn't be a problem.

[Tom M King]

They make tools, in different radius's, just for that job. I forget what they're called. Going to look edited to add: called a "coving trowel" or "cove trowel" many to choose from in different lengths, heights, and radius's. https://www.bontool.com/cove-base-tools/ultra-smooth-base-tools-ultra-smooth-base-tool

edited to add: I did find this useful tool: https://www.tools4flooring.com/crain-110-inside-cove-corner-kit.html

[Alan Caro]

Stephen Toshiro,

Given the labor involved in coving vinyl flooring, consider simply using a vinyl base:

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Vinyl-Flooring-Resilient-Flooring-Wall-Base/N-5yc1vZbodt

-which they don't exactly give away,...

,..or at a lower cost, a vinyl quarter round base molding:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Royal-Mouldings-WM-108-1-2-in-x-1-2-in-x-144-in-Vinyl-Quarter-Round-Moulding-RY332-ZM144CRY/207001405

-only $6.62 for 12'


Alan