Is there a perfect wall base?

Hot Topics / Current Challenges
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Wall base selection is always an interesting topic of discussion with clients and facility leaders. What is everyone using successfully these days in high-risk patient rooms?

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@aleonard At Nationwide Children’s they did an extensive mockup for the patient room base (and everything else). They determined that the profiled resilient base works when proper blocking and fasteners are used. Pan-head screws every 16"oc and two fasteners used at corner locations (one high; one low). Screw heads are painted to match base. It is also adhered with heavy-duty adhesive and sealed with tamper-resistant caulk at edges. Mockup testers found that they could easily pull out the base off when the fasteners were countersunk into base. They also reinforced that the depth of the fastener to get through the blocking is key. Post-construction, they discovered that the subs used the wrong fasteners and they didn’t reach the blocking. Patients were able to remove the fasteners.
The client mentioned that tightening screws in inpatient rooms is a huge maintenance cost and they are looking for a better solution. There are not resources to do this after each discharge so there’s not a good tracking of where something has been loosened but not removed.

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a+ is currently executing tests in our workshop on a multitude of installation approaches for molded vinyl base. Once we’ve concluded our testing we can share the results with this group.

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I’m glad you resurfaced this discussion, Sara W. I was looking at integral base details recently and getting a quality installation at integral base without a metal strip on top is tough. The sanitary cove base products seem like a solution, but not always feasible. Anyone have other suggestions?

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Our starting recommendation is painted wood base with countersunk tamper resistant fasteners. Any holes are filled and painted. A point of discussion is beveled top and outside corners. It has a non-institutional feel, but does require careful thought at transitions because its usually thicker than hollow metal frame depth.