Spacing Between Skirting and Flooring?

paperclap

Hi all,

I’ll soon be laying out skirting board down.

Some areas of the floor dip, so to not have huge gaps between the skirting and flooring in comparison to other areas, I’d planned on scribing the bottom of the skirting. But that’s by the way.

The question at hand is, what is the right gap to have between the flooring and skirting? Obviously it needs something, so the flooring can expand and contract freely.

1mm? 2mm?

Thanks!

grumbler

No gap is needed. The flooring expands and contracts horizontally. Vertical expansion/contraction is negligible unless it's wood/laminate and you flood it.

dogshome

If the skirting is going to be painted then leave a small gap, the card from a cereal box makes ideal spacers and allows a sheet of newspaper to be slid under the skirting to protect the floor from the paint,

paperclap

dogshome said:

If the skirting is going to be painted then leave a small gap, the card from a cereal box makes ideal spacers and allows a sheet of newspaper to be slid under the skirting to protect the floor from the paint,

That's a good shout, thanks!

FreeBear

Do you have concrete or suspended timber floors ?

If the latter, get yourself a foam gun, and apply a thin bead of expanding foam along the gap between floorboards & plaster. A gun is much more controllable than the cans with a nozzle sticking out the top. You only need enough foam to plug the gap, not great mountains of the stuff. Leave to harden, cut back any large globs, then fix the skirting.

Slinky

Do you plan on having carpet? Carpet fitters will want a gap between skirting and floor to tuck the carpet under so you have a tidy edge.

paperclap

Thanks both.

No, we've a concrete floor, and have already laid down new laminate.

Was thinking of buying some 1mm packers and using them to suspend the skirting off the floor, then fix into place... but perhaps 1mm is too much, and no gap needed at all!

FreeBear

Slinky said: Do you plan on having carpet? Carpet fitters will want a gap between skirting and floor to tuck the carpet under so you have a tidy edge.

When putting gripper rods down, one leaves a 6-8mm gap between rod & skirting for the carpet to be tucked in to. You don't need a gap under the skirting.

If you are fitting laminate or vinyl, then the flooring goes down first with an expansion gap around the perimeter. The skirting is then fixed, hiding the expansion gap - The alternative is scotia bead which often looks ugly.

Murmansk

You can get expanding foam tape - nothing to do with the expanding foam that comes in cans!

https://youtu.be/V6lZXjRR-1k

grumbler

Murmansk said:

You can get expanding foam tape - nothing to do with the expanding foam that comes in cans!

For what gaps? It's not nice and is for closing really big gaps hidden under nicer  finish.

Also, the tape in this picture isn't air-tight. Good tape comes with an air-tight film on one side, e.g.

Bendy_House

A good call about laying a thin strip of polythene or similar under the skirting. I had some left over DPM, so cut it into 2" wide strips, and placed it under the skirting boards before they were stuck down. Lawdie, that made painting them so much easier.

Keep sliding them sideways, or even pull them out a wee bit as paint gets on them - that'll stop it sticking.

No 'actual' gap required.