The OP is treating a basic layout like a "holy grail". Around 2004 Glish.com published a series of CSS-based layouts they called "the holy grail" and many more

The OP is treating a basic layout like a "holy grail". Around 2004 Glish.com published a series of CSS-based layouts they called "the holy grail" and many more followed. It's a bit of an insider's joke I guess. A wrapper, a header, 3 columns, a footer in CSS was a "holy grail" back when table-based design ruled and everybody was figuring out new things to do with CSS (csszengarden.com). Nowadays, it's easy. It doesn't require any contortions at all. Wrap the floating columns and clear them... The OP is lamenting 5+ year old problems, where there are simple and proven solutions available to anyone willing to simply look, instead of rage.