Why to Remove Trim

• The reasons for removing floor trim before installing vinyl flooring are both practical and aesthetic. Removing trim before installation protects the trim from damage. If you leave trim on the walls during installation, you might scratch it, cut it or accidentally stain it with flooring adhesive. Additionally, removing trim allows you to place vinyl flooring closer to the wall. In most cases, trim conceals the joint between the vinyl flooring and the wall covering to give the finished floor surface a clean look.
  
  

Types of Trim to Remove

• Before installing vinyl flooring, you must remove baseboard molding. Baseboard molding covers the bottom of a wall and runs along the perimeter of a room. Additionally, you must remove or cut door casing before installing vinyl flooring. Door casing is the trim that surrounds a door opening while casing attaches to a door jamb's legs, which are the horizontal portions of the door frame, and the door jamb's head jamb, which is the vertical portion of the frame. To accommodate the thickness of subfloor and underlayment, you must trim the bottom of leg casings. Although cutting casing in place is possible, removing casing before cutting is easier and produces a cleaner result.
  
  

Preparing Door Frames

• Flooring installers not only remove trim before laying vinyl floors, but also trim door jambs to accommodate floor transitions, subfloor materials and underlayment. Transitions are strips of metal, wood or plastic that span a threshold and smoothly bridge the gap between different floor materials, such as vinyl flooring and wood flooring. To trim jambs, flooring installers use special saws, usually called undercut saws. Available as both hand saws and power saws, undercut saws rest nearly flush against the floor, allowing carpenters to cut thin slices from the bottom of door jambs.
  
  

Trim Removal Tools

• Flooring installers use carpentry hand tools to remove base molding and door casing. Pry bars are the most common trim removal tool. Essentially miniature crow bars, pry bars have a flat metal handle, curved at one end. Both the curved and straight ends of the pry bar slip behind trim to facilitate prying. Additionally, finish hammers pry individual nails, and utility knives and scrapers remove caulking and paint.