Getting Laminate flooring fitted and new skirting- same job?

recci

I'm thinking of getting laminate flooring fitted and was going to just strip the old skirting down and repaint but they are old and have about 10 layers of paint on them. I tried with a heat gun but after an hour or so I realise this in just not worth the hassle. Also probably has old lead paint which is not good.

So if I get laminate fitted would it be the fitter that would just replace the skirting boards as part of the same job? Is this a normal thing they do? Or would it involve hiring somebody else to do the skirting job?

Does this tend to add a significant amount to the cost? I will paint them myself.

TheCyclingProgrammer

I don't know if it's common but I'd expect a good floor fitter to be able to fit skirting too. Not all floor fitters are carpenters but many carpenters do floor fitting so I would look for someone who will do both.

The guy who fitted our laminate did a better job than the carpenter who did the skirting in the rest of our house - a bit slower but more accurate and attention to detail.

EDIT: To add, the best way to lay laminate or any wooden flooring is to remove the skirting, fit the floor and then re-fit the skirting boards. The only reason not to do this is to save on the time/cost of replacing and repairing any decoration, but I'd always consider scotia trim to be a compromise. For this reason alone, any floor fitter worth their salt should be able to competently fit skirting board - if they can't I'd find another fitter.

Silvertabby

Not quite the same, but we've just had engineered wood fitted. The fitter removed the old skirting boards, fitted the flooring and then fitted new skirting boards on top. This is SOP for wood and engineered wood flooring because of the slight expansion/contraction, and so may not be strictly necessary for laminate - but if your fitter does wood flooring as well as laminate he should be happy to fit new skirtings for you.

Annie1960

When I was getting quotes for this, some would also quote for skirtings and some would not, so ask before you book them for a quote.

recci

what sort of amounts was added on for the skirting?

Carrot007

Should not add much.

http://skirtingonline.co.uk/epages/www_skirtingonline_co_uk.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_skirtingonline_co_uk/Products/tor-15-3050-20/SubProducts/tor-15-3050-20-0001

It's pretty cheap.

I just got my kitchen done and they floored into the conservatory too and he was going to re-use the skirting origionally.

But for some reason just got new. It added nothing to the price. Though I was having a full kitchen refit as well!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Skirting isn't overly expensive but I would definitely spend the extra on properly pre-primed skirting, so it's just ready for a single undercoat and top coats.

JP1978

When we had the interior doors replaced in the last house (11 of them, ouch) and the facings re-done (double ouch) we had a lot of the skirtings redone too - well, to save money on them, I did them myself.

As we had oak facings on the door frames, I bought oak skirtings from the same range - just oiled them and fitted them. I also purchased a powered mitre saw for the corners. Due to the amount of skirting that I did - kitchen, diner, hall, landing, half landing, lounge - the savings fitting it myself paid for the 'upgrade' to oak and the mitre saw.

They do recommend cutting external corners manually to account for the angles been off but I didn't and never had an issue.

So maybe worth considering DIY

littlerock

Related query. We are about to have the woollen fitted carpet removed from our front room as it has a moth infestation. We were intending to replace it with wood effect laminate and a big rug. However there is no possibility of removing the skirting boards which are elaborate moulded style Victorian ones about 18ins tall.

What do people do when they want to install laminate flooring without removing or replacing the skirting boards?

TheCyclingProgrammer

They have it fitted with scotia trim to cover the expansion gap.

Jonesya

littlerock wrote: »

What do people do when they want to install laminate flooring without removing or replacing the skirting boards?

You can fit beading (lookup Scotia beading for example) to the bottom of the skirting to cover any gap. For areas where beading can't be fitted, you can also get timber coloured fillers to fill any gaps.

Worth shopping around for beading - most of the DIY sheds seem to sell poor quality MDF foil wrapped beading, often at inflated prices but you can get real wood beading online for around the same price which looks better and isn't veneer, so you'll never get the MDF showing through.