Just moved into my new home & all the rooms have what looks to be engineered wood flooring. The original relatively low & plain skirting board has been left in place & unsightly scotia beading has been used to cover the expansion gap. The original skirting looks to be 18mm thick. I am not too sure about the gap size between the flooring & skirting. I have removed some of the beadings & the expansion gap differs along the length. However, I think a 25mm thick white MDF skirting board should cover the majority of it with maybe the need for a thin quadrant beading to cover the remaining gap. Would you agree that this would be the best option to improve the aesthetics? Another option would be to leave the original skirting boards, remove the scotia beading & replace them with white quadrant beading. What are people's thoughts? Pic attached.
Have to admit I couldn't live with that. I would be inclined to pull the skirting off and replace as it looks a bit utilitarian at the moment, add beading to cover any remaining gap and then paint the lot so it blends together. Get higher skirting to cover any mess left from pulling off the original. Depends upon the overall design of the house and the look you want to achieve as to the skirting profile.
When I fit I always leave a gap of about a millimetre between the bottom of the skirting, or in your case the beading, and the hard flooring so you can slip some thin card or similar underneath when painting. Just makes it a lot easier and is not noticeable.
Overall look isn’t helped by the shallow skirting used so big % is covered over with Scotia trim. Skirt looks like 70/75mm Chamfer As you’ve said, expansion gap varies as when your laying laminate and planning on using Scotia, often not cut super accurate to wall, even though flooring instructions may say 8mm gap, could well be larger in places so that determines the overal plan Just depends how much work and budget your happy to go with ? Deeper skirts would look a whole lot better, and they come in different thicknesses, just depends if skirting alone would cover all the expansion gaps ? As you say, an additional trim can be pinned and glued to skirts, loads of choice available, painted to match skirts, and will look a whole lot better than what you’ve got now Or stick with current skirts, rip of Scotia and again, go with a trim, as above and paint when you freshen up woodwork Pretty much any trim will look better than that nasty Scotia, poor joints don’t help either and keep smaller than what’s there now Couple of options then to consider ! PS. Do the skirts currently match the architraves ? (Often yes) not so much in width but style - chamfer ?
Yes, both options are what I have considered. Replacing trim is something I have never done before so the second option would be easier. However, this is my first bought home after renting for many years & I would like to think of myself as a capable DIY'er so would like to give the first option a go. The current skirts do match the architrave so I guess you are going to suggest that I replace the door trim too at the same time with similar skirting trim?
Firstly, congrats on moving into your first bought home - great feeling and I recon you may be a regular visitor to this mighty forum !! So welcome to the Forum as well All the above is fairly basic diy, your a capable diy’er as you’ve said so all good and a better finish is more than achievable for yourself I just mentioned the same style skirts and architrave as skirts look like Chamfer to me and you’ve mentioned Torus as new skirts - clearly the choice is yours and if you wish to then replace architrave to match - only you can decide Or go with new, higher skirts but stuck with Chamfer - comes in a range of sizes. Check local wood yards as available in longer lengths and should be cheaper than say BQ Bought a length of 170mm Ogee other week and MDF was more expensive than the real wood pine equivalent (unless extra was for the micron thin spray they call ‘pre-primed’ on the mdf !!
Thank you! Yes, it's a fantastic feeling & looking forward to getting stuck into some improvements. I did consider pine skirting & it appears cheaper from my local Howarth Timber than the MDF primed equivalent. However, I am just a little concerned with the fitting of the pine as I am led to believe real wood is a little more difficult given it can be warped & also the need to prep the wood prior to painting. This leads me to another question as to painted or unpainted. If I was to go with unpainted then obviously i would have to go for real wood. The internal doors are all pine & the upstairs trim has all been painted white which appears to look quite good but I am still a little undecided. Couple of pics for reference.......
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