Skirting Boards

Introduction

Skirting boards need to be applied in rooms that have a transition of materials from wall to floor involving different materials. This is to hide joins and wiring and protect the walls. The exception to this rule is bathrooms and outdoors due to the presence of water.

Material Finishes

Skirting boards are almost always wooden in homes.

Traditional wooden skirting boards are milled from solid timber and more modern houses will usually contain painted MDF boards.

These are typically painted in either satin or gloss, and sometimes matte. Due to the type of paint used to protect them, often no grain can be seen and the visible bump will be from brush-strokes (these brush strokes always follow the longest edge and so will run horizontally on skirting.)

Design & Fitting

Skirting boards come in a vast array of shapes and sizes, from very simple square profiles to large period boards with very detailed profiles.

The styling team will always spec a skirting board style and size, but here are some initial terms and guides:

Beading - A very short form of skirting board to add the smallest transition from floor to wall. This is usually in the same material as the floor, or painted to the same colour as the wall for a minimalist look.

Skirting Profiles - These vary greatly but there are some general rules. A more contemporary, new-build home will usually have simpler skirting, and more traditional or extravagant properties will contain larger, more detailed profiles. Below are some examples showing different styles, and the way that sizes increases. As a general rule, when increasing the height of a board, only the base area will increase in height, leaving the detailed top the same in all sizes.

Shadow gaps - As wood shrinks and expands through the seasons and years, there will always be a small gap between floors and skirting boards. We usually represent this with a 1 or 2 mm gap between flooring and skirting depending on contrast and lighting.

Bespoke styles - The above information covers 99% of Skirting that we create, but for some very bespoke designs, other materials and styles may appear like flush baseboards, marble and stone skirting etc. Anything like with will always be specifically referenced by the stylist.

Interactions

Explain Skirting hitting other internal elements

More Info

Full size images from this guide:
R:\02_REFERENCES\01_PRODUCT_TECHNICAL_SPECIFICATION\03_REAL_WORLD_REF_IMAGES\_WALLS AND FLOORS\SKIRTING STYLES

Websites:

Skirtings R us - Range of profiles

Orac - Downloadable Models

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