Alternative to floor beading - moulding on skirting?

Soldato
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Sure you're all familiar with the quarter round beading that you use to cover the expansion gap after laying laminate floor. I know removing skirting would have been the best option however the walls aren't straight in this house and we were concerned about creating a lot of damage to the walls if we tried to pull off the existing quite large skirting boards.

So I am wondering if an alternative to the quarter round small beading is to use a larger moulding, perhaps 8-10mm thick and say 50mm high, effectively a skirting on the face of the existing skirting, painted in white the same as the skirting is.

My hope is that this wouldn't look like beading, but rather a unique double layer skirting.

I.e something like this:



Or plain face: https://www.wickes.co.uk/Cheshire-Mouldings-Pine-Stripwood---10-x-36-x-900mm/p/273219
 
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In my head I’m not sure ‘double skirting’ would look that great.
My preference would be to take the skirting off and refit it close to the floor but I guess it depends on how much you’ve got. You may find it doesn’t take much to get it off.
 
Have to say double skirting sounds pretty awful. +1 fo taking it off, making good on the wall, sorting paint, refitting after flooring. It's a chance to replace skirting too.
 
I already said the risk taking off the skirting is too great. The walls aren't straight, the skirting gap to wall has been generously filled in numerous places, and the walls are fairly long requiring joins in several places.
 
If your determined to not do it properly (as above remove skirting)

Then as the second best option I would, as long as your reasonably good with tools, use a multi tool to cut the bottom off the skirting.
This will allow you to slot the laminate under the existing. You will need to take one side of skirting off*, but surely you can take your time and do that in one place. The least obvious place?

Eg https://smart-toolgroup.com/en/2022...:text=3.-,Make your cut,in front of the blade.

See above they use a piece of wood to act as a height guide. ( I would mark also personally so you can check as your going in case any obvious floor bumps etc.)

Multi tools cut that sort of thing very quickly. A reasonable sized room you would probably do in an hour or so. You would also then cut the door frame to allow the laminate to slot under which looks a LOT better than covering with any sort of trim.

*If your laying boards say east to west you would need to take the north or south off since you need to be able to slot them in lengthways if that makes sense. The last laminate you cut to go under the removed skirting and then replace the skirting.

Most older skirting is simply nailed on. Once you find the nails if you can prize the skirting off a bit you can often get a multitool blade down behind the board if its still proving hard to remove and to cut the nail off.

Really what you describe is a case of how much time your willing to spend more than anything. More time = better result with less risk of it looking like a turd.

If you dont have a multi tool get one. For certain jobs like cutting the bottom off a door frame they are totally invaluable. Also great in restricted areas for eg cutting pipes.
 
I already said the risk taking off the skirting is too great. The walls aren't straight, the skirting gap to wall has been generously filled in numerous places, and the walls are fairly long requiring joins in several places.
Yeah and 99% of houses have issues like that as well, taking skirting off always causes a little damage but nothing major. End of the day its your house but if you want to do it properly then it takes a bit of effort.
 
I already said the risk taking off the skirting is too great. The walls aren't straight, the skirting gap to wall has been generously filled in numerous places, and the walls are fairly long requiring joins in several places.
I don't know if you have removed skirting board previously but for me it's not as daunting a task as it first seems.

If this is true - "the skirting gap to wall has been generously filled in numerous places" - then it likely doesn't already look good, so adding a second skirting/beading will likely make things look worse. I personally can't stand beading around skirting boards for laminate.

I removed with a decent sized "wrecking bar" and some pallet wood to spread the force on the wall. Once I made a decent enough gap between the wall I better protected the skirting with bits of wood and a secondary lever to again spread the force applied.

For me, embarking on this beading/secondary skirting mission would look just as bad as leaving it off and caulking or wood filling the gap between laminate and skirting.

Maybe a wild suggestion, but what about a second run of skirting of the exact same height and then caulk it flush at the top joint? So instead of say 20mm thick skirting it'll look like a 40mm thick lump of painted wood. As much of a chew on as taking them off and doing it properly though.
 
I know removing skirting would have been the best option however the walls aren't straight in this house and we were concerned about creating a lot of damage to the walls if we tried to pull off the existing quite large skirting boards.
is the skirting bonded to the walls or nailed? if it's only nailed the damage to the wall will be minimal and will be behind the skirting board anyway. if it's bonded or glued it'd still look at trying to remove them, make yourself a few wood wedges and tap them in along the top of the skirting to remove, don't be tempted to hammer the first couple of wedges in the whole way, just take your time and tap a few in the whole length then try prying the skirting off, if it still doesn't come, tap the wedges down a bit more, rinse and repeat till the skirting pops off. i would always, always make removing the skirting board the primary option, anything else will look like a bodge.
 
Nailed or screwed - no idea but I think likely both in some places as the skirting has needed to be pulled to the wall in some places where the wall isn't straight.

The plaster skim has been applied when the skirting was in place so in some places there is no easy edge to drive a tool or wedges behind, would have to dig in to the plaster to get behind for some leverage.

The plugs are exactly at skirting height so if a new skirting was taller I'd have to cut around plugs or move them up (wire extensions required).

In the bay window there must be a curve on the wall behind the radiator as the skirting to wall is backfilled in places upto 10mm deep (most of the room isn't like this). Also radiator would need to come off to get replacement skirting behind unless i joint it in the centre.

We're doing things room by room except the floor because we want the same floor in all the rooms. So at the moment we're leaving the carpets down, switching work to another room, getting that painted and finished, and so on. Then at the end of the painting work we'll purchase and lay all the floors at the same time. This is because if we don't do this, we risk a flooring line being discontinued, or we have to buy it all now and store it. If we're pulling skirting off at that point, it means undoing some of the work we've done painting to get it habitable now.

Here's the room right now, all painting of walls and woodwork complete ready to get the window curtains/blinds and move back in.

BeWfeqb.png


The larger skirting gaps that have been filled are upto 10mm wide.

uYBnhtN.png




The only wall where beading would be obvious is the left side one. The right side will have the bed, the wall behind the picture will be wardrobes, and the bay window has the radiator.

I wonder if caulking would be worth considering. We could undercut the skirting on the left and bay window sides, and use coloured caulking on the right and back sides where mostly furniture will be. If Im millimeter perfect on the cutting of the floor, it will look a straight caulking line. Alternative something soft as a gap filler like cork strip?
 
Did you end up doing double skirting? I've been considering the same thing, and suspiciously cannot find pictures online
 
Did you end up doing double skirting? I've been considering the same thing, and suspiciously cannot find pictures online

I just used beading painted white. It looks ok, looks fairly integral with the existing skirting and most of it is behind furniture so can't really be seen.

PXL-20250228-120246694.jpg


PXL-20250228-120234109.jpg
 
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