baseboard moulding

Hi again guys. I have another question on our house. We decided to pull up the carpet in the master bedroom because it was a little old and gross. We decided to leave the hardwood floors in place, but saw a bit of black in the floors over by an exterior wall. We decided to try to pull the baseboard moulding out so we could inspect the base of the wall near that area.

We discovered that the bottom of the moulding is below the hardwood floor. So, did they put it on when there was only subfloor and then build the hardwood floor around that slightly smaller area? House was built in 1950 in Sacramento.

We did some damage to the drywall trying to get the trim out, but I think we can repair it (less than 6" dents). I have a couple questions and appreciate the help in advance:
1. The moulding was broken during removal. Some pieces are trapped below the surface of the hardwood floor. Any tips on removing those pieces?

2. I just checked Lowe's web site and saw some moulding that looked pretty close. Assuming I can find a match, any tips for installing? I have a compound mitre saw, so I just need the material and a way to drive it down so the moulding is all at the same height.

Thanks again.

michael

The house was likely built with linoleum floors and the hard wood was put in later. There should be a gap around the hard wood for expansion so I wouldn't try to get a tight fit there. You might find in most of the room the floor isn't tight to the molding and probably had a shoe molding to cover the crack which would have been removed when the carpet went in. Finding molding to match a 1950s house will be quite a trick. Sometimes you can find used out of old houses and sometimes you have to have them made. If you can find them I would cut the bottom off so the height matches the rest without going down behind the floor and then add a shoe molding.
A shoe molding can be just a smaller base molding, a corner cove or a quarter round, whatever you think fits.