Floor Borders and Medallions (2026): Hardwood and Tile Costs, Hours and Inlays
What a hardwood border, a floor medallion and a tile listello add to a 300 sq ft floor, in dollars and hours, from new floors to borders routed into an old one.
The assumptions
This model assumes
- A 300 sq ft room, nail-down oak, sanded and finished on site
- Border about a foot in from the walls, 60 feet a row
- Your direct cost from Clamp's October 2026 catalog, before markup
- Hours are planning allowances to check against your own
The model, step by step
A 300 sq ft oak floor, nail-down, sanded and finished on site. The border runs about a foot in from the walls, 60 feet a row; the medallion sits in the middle.
| Option | Adds |
|---|---|
| Plain floor28 person-hours | $4,814 |
| Border, 2 rows, 60 ft+14 hours | +$3,924 |
| Medallion, 36 in+4 hours | +$1,748 |
| Both46 person-hours | $10,486 |
Sketch the room first
The room sketched in Quick Clamp: the walls, the border's inside line at 17' 6" by 12' 6" (60 feet a row) and a 3 ft medallion, each measurement listed under the drawing. Recreated from the app with demo data.
Square the layout off working lines, not the walls. Run the field past the border line, snap a line, cut back with a track saw, then fit each row of the border and its corners.
Material is figured with 10% for cuts. Corners take longer than straight runs: woven, mitered or a factory corner block.
The border can be strips milled from contrasting flooring or a factory-made decorative border.
| Border | Per foot |
|---|---|
| Contrasting stripClamp's low tier, milled from flooring | about $8 |
| Clamp's default | $22 |
| Prefab, USA InlaysPrefinishing extra | $33 to $69 |
| Prefab, Czar Floors21 ft minimum | $35 to $85 |
A medallion is routed into the floor with the maker's template, glued to the subfloor, then sanded and finished with the room.
| Medallion | Price |
|---|---|
| Stock wood star, 36 inHome Depot | $495 |
| Marble, 36 inCountry Floors | $657 |
| Multi-species wood, 36 inCzar Vine | $1,699 |
| Same, 48 in | $2,899 |
| Same, 70 in | $3,999 |
Setting it
New floorA few hours with the template; Clamp carries 4, x1.5 for 48 to 60 in or stone
CustomOne custom medallion, with the field cut to its radius and rough-sanded, took 22 hours
Prefinished floorMatch the thickness and finish first; gaps and scratches won't sand out
Routing a border or medallion into an old floor means cutting through fastened boards, flattening the cut, and refinishing the whole room so the new wood blends.
| Job | Cost |
|---|---|
| Sand and refinish | $1,496 |
| Or a 2-row borderRefinish plus the border; labor x2.5 | $6,950 |
| Or a 36 in medallionRefinish plus a medallion; setting x2 | $3,492 |
A tile border or rug-style band runs inside the field. The field tile is cut to it, and the corners are fit by hand.
| Option | Cost |
|---|---|
| Plain tile floor | $4,083 |
| Or 60 ft of listello0.2 h a foot, $14 a foot material | $5,697 |
| Or a stone medallionTile floor plus a medallion; 6 hours, stone sets slower | $5,955 |
A floating click floor moves as one piece, so a border or inlay can't be cut into it the way it can in nailed wood. Glue-down LVT is different: makers such as Karndean sell 3 and 10 mm design strips for borders.
Homeowners decide on a border or medallion by what it adds. Put each on its own line with its hours.
The upgrades, line by line
A Clamp estimate for a 300 sq ft oak floor with a two-row border and a 36 in medallion, each with its labor hours. Recreated from the app with demo data.
What it means
Upgrades on their own lines
Sketch the room in Quick Clamp and the border's length is on the drawing. Clamp's estimate prices a hardwood border by the foot and row, a medallion by size and type, and a tile listello by the foot, each with its labor hours.
Log your hours on the next border job by task: layout, field cut-back, border and corners. Two jobs give you a better rate than any table.
Questions
How much does a hardwood floor border cost?
Plan on about $33 a linear foot per row in Clamp's catalog, labor and material, more with a prefabricated border. Prefab borders alone run about $33 to $85 a foot. A two-row border around a 300 sq ft room, 60 feet a row, adds about $3,900.
How much does a floor medallion cost to install?
The medallion is most of it: about $500 for a stock 36 in piece up to $1,700 for a multi-species one, and $2,900 to $4,000 at 48 to 70 in. Setting one with the maker's router template takes a few hours; Clamp carries 4 hours, about $250.
Can you add a border to an existing hardwood floor?
Yes, but the border is routed into the old floor and the whole room is sanded and refinished so it blends. Clamp prices the border labor at 2.5 times a new floor's, plus the refinish.
Can you put a border in LVP or laminate?
Not by cutting into a floating click floor: it moves as one piece, so use only a system the flooring maker approves. Glue-down LVT is different; makers like Karndean sell design strips for borders.
How long does a floor border take to install?
About 0.12 person-hours a foot per row on a new floor in Clamp's catalog, so 60 feet of two-row border is about 14 hours. One crew's day of borders and a diagonal field ran about a quarter of their best open-room day.
Sources & provenance
- Clamp estimating catalog (2026-10): hardwood, tile, border, medallion and listello lines Clamp Research
- Adding a Border to a Hardwood Floor JLC (research)
- Installing a Double Picture-Frame Border, Part 1 Wood Floor Business (research)
- Flooring sq ft per day Fine Homebuilding forum (research)
- Hardwood Floor Border and Feature Strip A Concord Carpenter (research)
- Wood floor borders Czar Floors (research)
- Wood floor borders USA Inlays (research)
- Vine wood floor medallion Czar Floors (research)
- PID Floors 36 in Star Medallion, unfinished Home Depot (research)
- Marble medallions Stone Tile Depot (research)
- Anges multi-finish round marble medallion, 36x36 Country Floors (research)
- How to Install a Floor Medallion This Old House (research)
- Fabricating a wood floor medallion Fine Homebuilding forum (research)
- Design components Karndean (research)