the.com/baseboard
The wall's hemline, hiding the gap where the drywall ran out of confidence.
means The narrow strip of molding that runs along the bottom of an interior wall where it meets the floor, covering the construction gap and protecting the wall from scuffs and mop water.
from Straightforward carpentry language: a 'board' set at the 'base' of the wall. It entered English use as interior trim became standard in finished rooms, giving builders a name for the plank that hides the rough seam between wall and floor — function first, poetry never intended.
- real job
- protects walls from mop water and vacuum collisions
- origin
- carpenters called it the mopboard in the 1800s
- dust magnet
- collects more dust than the floor it guards
- paint trick
- white baseboards make ceilings look higher by contrast