Help! Questions- started Pergo installation

We took up the old carpet & padding. We now have approx 1/2 inch gap between the subfloor & bottom of baseboard & it goes all the way around the room.

Q1) We did plan on removing the baseboards (Should we)

Q2) Since we have this 1/2 inch gap to begin with & I use the quarter inch spacers up against the baseboard will there be too much space between the laminate & the wall?

Thanks

 

I always remove the base when doing laminate flooring. Use a utility knife and cut any caulk or paint between the top of it and the wall so it doesn't tear things up as you're removing it. Pry it loose with a flat bar and pull all the nails. Mark the back of each piece with a matching mark on the wall, where the mark won't show later. This is so you'll know where each piece goes later. Then pile the base out of the way somewhere. I normally start with "one" and go from there. This is assuming you intend to reuse the base. If not, it makes great kindling in the morning. I've seen laminate move an amazing amount so I like to give it extra room. By "move", I'm referring to expansion and contraction, not sliding around. One of the tricks I use is to cut the sheet rock up a half inch from the floor and clean out the resulting gap back to the wall plate. Most of the time I've found the sheet rock to be half inch so this creates a half inch space under the sheet rock. I'll then install the flooring even with the outside edge of the wall. This gives the flooring a full half inch to expand before it contacts any thing which is usually twice what is called for. It also gives the full width of the base for it to contract before it comes out from under the base which eliminates the need for additional quarter round.