Month: October 2016

Some frequent questions about Skirting Board

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How to choose the thickness for the skirting boards

There are various thickness in skirting boards. Generally speaking, people go for certain sizes of thickness either to match with what they already have in the house, or for a particular reason. Skirting boards can go as thin as 12mm, however for that thickness, there are only very limited few profiles can be used on 12mm skirting boards, like square edge,  pencil round, edge 2 and some other profiles with less pattern or curves. Then the next thickness is 15mm, most of the popular profiles like Ogee, Torus, Lambs Tongue, Chamfered, Ovolo and so on can fit on 15mm skirting boards. The most commonly used thickness for skirting boards is 18mm, majority of the profiles can go on 18mm. Save a few very full profiles like 1914, Worcester, 2305, Highgrove and other profiles that with big proud curves and patterns can only go on 25mm.

If you want more than 25mm thickness skirting boards, you can choose 28mm, 32mm or thicker, however, by this level, your choices are quite limited in terms of material choices. Most MDF products are between 15mm – 25mm, so above 25mm, you have to choose wood, mostly pine skirting boards as they are the cheapest wood skirting boards compare with Oak, walnut, cherry, ash, maple, beech and so on so forth.

Most of the thick skirting boards are used in large country houses, period homes, or other large space with high ceilings etc. Or in some cases, the walls are simply not straight; thick skirting boards are cut and used as a feature to create straighter walls.

 

Cheapest skirting boards

The cheapest skirting boards one can buy are normally moisture resistant MDF with the simplest design like Torus, Ogee, Chamfered and round, lambs tongue and so on, because those profiles are most commonly used by large building projects, so that those profiles always have been manufactured in a large scale. Their sizes varies between 44mm, 58mm, 68mm, 94mm, 119mm, 144mm, 168mm, 194mm, 219mm, however not all profiles are available for all sizes. There is a reason why those skirting boards are so popular, because 1) they are cost effective; 2) they last longer being moisture resistant; 3) they require less prep time because they come as double primed and sanded, so they only require to be fitted and final coat of paint or gloss; 4) longer lengths, normally 5.4m or 4.4m length so less waste.

Profile sizes

Profiles sizes are the sizes for the actual profile itself, not to be mistaken by the height of the boards. Some of the profiles are very small like edge 2, pencil round, or Torus , so if you put a small profile on a larger board, it will leave a large amount of flat board, although it is nothing wrong with the look of such boards or if they are the look you are going for, it is good to be aware such thing if you don’t want such looks, then you can either choose a smaller overall height or a larger profile to balance out the profile and flat board ratio.

Where else I can use my leftover skirting boards?

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It is always better to allow some sort of wastage when you buy your skirting boards just in case the measurement wasn’t accurate or someone took a wrong cut into the skirting boards result in you needing more. Or if you have a 3.6 metres or 5 metres wall and don’t want to have any joint, so you have to buy 4.2 meter length for your 3.6 metre wall and 5.4 meter length for your 5 metres wall. The bottom line is that you have some left over skirting boards.

There are many ways that you can utilise your leftover skirting boards. Firstly, you can use them to build book shelves. The profile of your skirting boards will create a very unique patterns for each shelves compare to the standard flat shelves; Secondly you can use them to build a custom picture frame, again the profiles create the pattern for the outer rim of the frame, and you can decide whatever size of frame you want. Thirdly, cut them to smaller pieces like the our skirting samples and use them as coasters. Fourthly, build a small bird house, in fact, that’s what I did with my son, who wanted a bird house. We went to a few garden centres and found out that any reasonable quality ones are ranged between £50 -£200. So we decided to use the leftover skirting boards to build one, in fact, we built two with what we had. We didn’t waste a thing and we had so much fun out of it. Fifthly, with what we left after the cut for the bird houses, my son had enough small skirting boards as his building blocks. Finally, you can do whatever you want, at the end of the day, they are wood products with beautiful profiles, be creative and you can get so much use of them.

Veneered skirting boards

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Veneered skirting boards are the new products that didn’t exist many years ago. It is more environment-friendly, more cost-effective, more stable than real wood and still maintain the wood finish most clients want.

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Veneered skirting boards have moisture resistant MDF underneath, with one or more layers of real wood on top. With the MR MDF skirting boards underneath, it makes the products more stable so it is unlikely to bend, cup, or shake like most real wood products do. And also you wouldn’t have dead knots like a lot of real wood skirting boards.

 

We offer double fleece veneered skirting boards, which means they put one layer in one direction and another layer on top in a different direction, so when you cut the skirting boards, you wouldn’t end up with a rough or split top as most of the single fleece veneered skirting boards would. Also with two layers of wood, not only you get the beautiful grain from the wood but also the skirting boards can take oil, lacquering products very well.
Commonly, there are two main veneered skirting boards types, the oak veneered  and the walnut veneered because oak and walnut are the most popular wood for floorings, furniture, doors etc. A layman normally wouldn’t tell the difference between the veneered skirting boards and the solid oak or walnut skirting boards, because they have the same wood finish but just with a less of a price tag. A lot of high-end showrooms use veneered products to achieve their desired designs.

The easiest skirting boards for cleaning

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The easiest skirting boards for cleaning are the ones that with simple profiles, like round, square edge,  edge 2, ogee, torus, chamfered etc, basically most of the profiles with less curves, cuts, and rebates. Particularly square edge, edge 2 and round are architects and designers new favorite, because they are simple, clean, modern ( as supposed to the traditional designs) and easy to maintain. Next time, when you go to a hotel, modern restaurant or  modern apartment complex you will probably see that the skirting boards they use are those simple profiles.

 

The next thing is to have some sort of finish for your skirting boards. If you use MDF, add a coat of gloss finish, if you use real wood or veneered product, add some lacquers or oil them. These finishing products not only add different layers of look and texture to your skirting boards, but also give them longer wear and protect them from scratching or bumping. Particularly if you have young children, who push around their toy pushchairs or cars , or you move your furniture around and unavoidably your children or you can bump or bash into some of the skirting boards.  And most importantly, when it comes to cleaning, it far easier to get dust, grease, and other unwanted stuff off your skirting boards.