Panels first, baseboard at end. Definitely.

I think so too. What Speck said.

My husband installed beadboard wainscoting for someone last year - I'll go ask him right now.

Wainscoting. Sounds like a little Dorset village...

I think hubby's got this one. As a general rule you don't put bare edges out where they'll show, even if they are clean manufactured edges and sit nice and flush. Moulding goes on top.

First--I love that I got a response to this in like 10 minutes.

But you know what I love most? The first two answers came from women.

Having spent nine years in other people's bathrooms on a professional contracting basis, here's the deal.

Is your floor absolutely level, flat, even and are the room corners square? If yes, it makes little difference which you put in first. If no, panels first and then fit the toe moulding, opening up the rabet in the back if necessary to get the right clearance. Don't fit it tight into the rabet, leave a little breathing room, 'cause your house changes dimensions from season to season.

If your bathroom floor is not perfectly smooth, straight and level, the toe moulding may show a gap at low spots. The sneaky cure is to bevel the bottom of the moulding so it is tight at the front edge where it hits the floor and then rises to a gap against the wall. Smack it down with a soft mallet and the thinned bottom edge of the moulding will match the floor perfectly.

Hint: most framers work to a tolerance of 1/8" or even more. If you expect your house to be geometrically perfect, be prepared for all sorts of things to not fit.

Hint: When laying a tile floor, shoot your lines from a full tile at the door and bury the cuts against the walls. Most people admire a room from the doorway and this trick gives floors that look perfect in imperfectly built houses. A good tile floor looks like it continues past the walls (or that the floor is bigger than the walls and the walls were placed on the floor.)

My husband (a general contractor and a carpenter) said that it depends. He asked if you had a link to the board, and especially the baseboard, so he could look at it (isn't it cute how he assumes that everything in the world is online?). He told me to tell you that 90% of the time, the wainscoting goes on first, to the floor, and then a cove base or baseboard goes on after it, but that if you have a decorative, heavy moulding to go on the floor, that goes on first, and the panels butt up to it and rest on it, like you said. So it depends on the baseboard. Whatcha got?

Rabet. Heh.

Thanks for the help, warbaby.

Our house is about 50 years old and was built by a complete lunatic, so nothing is flush or square. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

iconomy--we haven't gotten it yet. But I doubt whatever we pick will fall into the 10 percent exception category.

I shall tell the husband that he has won this round.
Thanks all!

Definitely put the panels on first and then add the skirting board. Except in the case that Mr iconomy has outlined, where you have a very thick, old-fashioned sort of skirting board. Either way, if you are doing a tiled floor, don't put the skirting board on until after you have laid the tiles, then you don't have to fit the tiles eactly to the edge.

If you're using beadboard paneling, hide it. If, on the other hand, you're using real honest-to-god wainscoting -- i.e. wood 1/4" to 1/2" thick with grooves and notched joins like floorboards -- well, you have to set it on top of the baseboard. I think you could put the baseboard in front, but that would look less natural.

MetaChat: don't fit it tight into the rabet, leave a little breathing room.