How to fit kickboards

helping_hubby

My ebay kickboards arrived this morning for my kitchen. Very happy with them. But now I need to fix them in.

From googling, I've read that a circular saw should be fine for cutting through the laminate (it's a gloss finish). I'm not sure if we have one of these. What other materials would be OK to use so I don't chip the laminate?

Also I read to use aquaseal - this is supposed to stop water getting under, and also helps stop water getting inside the chip board. Does this sound right? We have tiles that go under the kicthen cabinets.

Do I need to make little frames to screw the kickboards to? But then I'll have screws How about no more nails?

Mutton_Geoff

Depends what type of circular saw and the size of blade/teeth. Too course and it will shatter the laminate.

If you don't have many cuts to do, then a hand saw is fine (if you're OK with cutting straight lines).

They normally fix to the legs of the units with plastic clips that screw on the back of the kickboards with small screws. The clips slide left/right in a small track so you have some reasonable tolerance of where you mount them.

I wouldn't bother with sealing the bottom of the kickboard unless you plan on leaving your kitchen floor wet all the time. Accidental spills near the sink etc if mopped up quickly are not going to be an issue.

helping_hubby

Mutton_Geoff wrote: »

Depends what type of circular saw and the size of blade/teeth. Too course and it will shatter the laminate.

If you don't have many cuts to do, then a hand saw is fine (if you're OK with cutting straight lines).

They normally fix to the legs of the units with plastic clips that screw on the back of the kickboards with small screws. The clips slide left/right in a small track so you have some reasonable tolerance of where you mount them.

I wouldn't bother with sealing the bottom of the kickboard unless you plan on leaving your kitchen floor wet all the time. Accidental spills near the sink etc if mopped up quickly are not going to be an issue.

At most I'll have 7 cuts I think. The kitchen looks like a cheap flat pack, the current kickboards (what's left of them) seem to be screwed and then the little plastic covers put over the screws.

I will need some strips to go down 3 of the edges that will be visible. I assume I will be able to get these from B&Q or similar? http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9746581&fh_view_size=6&fh_location=%2f%2fcatal!!!1%2fen_GB&fh_search=black+gloss+edging&fh_eds=%C3%9F&fh_refview=search&ts=1228904358393&isSearch=true is this what I'll need?

Lorian

Fine teeth in the saw for sure, and I'd use tape across the cutline while cutting to make sure the edge is as clean as possible.

Measure twice, mark with pencil along whole lenght of cut, then measure again to check. Then cut.

If you need to cut any lenghtwise becuase it's too wide then you might be better off finding someone with a band saw.

You can buy the stick on rools of edging laminate at any DIY, take a bit of wood to match the colour though.

Mutton_Geoff

Yes, the edging is fine. To be honest the only time you'll notice it is straight after you've done the job. In a week you'll stop looking down there!

The clips are included in these kits, they are the two bits to the right of the leg. The flat bit screws to the back of the kick panel and then you slide the clip into the slots. It moves itself sideways to line up with the leg of the cabinet. Expect you can buy the clips on their own somewhere.

helping_hubby

Oh right, we don't have legs like that. It's just bits of laminate covered chip board for the legs. Maybe screws it is and black covers for them?

I found an ebay seller that sells black gloss strip by the meter, £2.20 ish, so that would work out cheaper as I probably only need 1 meter.

Mutton_Geoff

I wouldn't bother with screws, just little blobs of silicone on the legs and push the kick panels in. That way you don't spoil the look and they will pull back off again if you need to get under there (don't put too much silicone on else you risk breaking the panel pulling it off).

If your measuring is accurate you could also use magnetic catches.

totalsolutions

>If your measuring is accurate you could also use magnetic catche

Or Velcro ?

andrew-b

We had to cut down all the plinths for our kitchen by about 5mm. We borrowed a table saw to do it. Not a single chip on the edges which really surprised me. But do experiment on an offcut first. It's more likely to splinter on the side where the blade leaves the plinth than the side it enters.

To attach the plinths use the special plinth clips.. simply screw to back of plinth and push onto the unit legs. Look on ebay as i got a few extra one's cheaply there. If you have internal corners you can screw the two plinths together, if you have external corners get some of the little furniture blocks used to attach furniture panels together and screw the plinths together using those to form your 90 degree angle. You don't have to join the internal and external corners together though and could just leave them loose.

Andy