Laminate Skirting Boards, Scotia and Edging Guide
Skirting Boards & Scotia
Adding skirting boards and scotia is the final touch to your beautiful laminate flooring. Are you stuck between choosing a skirting board or scotia for your brand-new laminate flooring? Well, fear not. Here, we discuss the differences, purposes, and benefits of each product.
Laminate Skirting Boards
Skirting boards, also known as decorative timber, are required with every laminate installation to cover the mandatory 10mm expansion gap around the room. Skirting boards have two major purposes. Laminate skirting serves as a form of protection for the wall. For example, protecting the wall from knocks and grazes. The second purpose is quite simply for decorative reasons. It looks good!
Some may choose to remove their current skirting and re-fit it after the floor, but if you need a whole new skirting, we have plenty to choose from!
We have plenty of skirting boards to choose from to match your laminate flooring.
Installing new laminate flooring? See our guide on How to Install Laminate Flooring for everything you need to know.
Should Skirting Match The Floor?
As a general rule, we say that skirting should match your laminate floor. This add a layer of consistency to your floor and has a natural finish.
Laminate Scotia
Scotia is simply a thin, long piece of wood that runs along the bottom of the wall in between the wall and the laminate flooring. All wood flooring requires a gap, as previously mentioned, along the edges of the floor between the wooden planks and the wall.
If you're keeping your current skirting boards where they are, you'll have to bridge the gap between the floor and the skirting board. This can be done by using a scotia or a 'beading' to seamlessly cover the expansion gap. Like the skirting boards, we supply this either in white or to colour match your laminate.
When choosing the right skirting board and scotia for your home, room suitability is very important to consider. Read our guide on Laminate Flooring Room Suitability.
Edging Options
When choosing your laminate flooring, one of your decisions is which kind of edging is the right one. We offer a selection of laminate floor edging options, including square edge, bevelled edge, and microbevelled edge. Each has its purpose, and all are attractive in their own way. Here, we discuss each edging option to help you decide which is the perfect fit.
Square Edge Laminate
When a laminate board has a square edge, the ends of all planks meet squarely creating a smooth, uniform surface that blends the wood floor together from plank to plank. The overall look of this floor gives a more contemporary flair and formal feeling to the room.
The main benefits of a square edge laminate:
- Easy to maintain and clean
- Unlikely to attract dirt or dust
- Has a modern finish
If you are installing new laminate flooring, we suggest you read our guide on How to Install Laminate Flooring.
Bevelled Edge Laminate
Bevelled edges on laminates help to accentuate each individual plank, resulting in a more traditional floorboard appearance. Bevelled edge planks have a very distinctive, deep v-groove. They lend themselves more to an informal and country decor. The deep bevelling helps hide tiny gaps which can develop between boards.
The main benefits of a bevelled edge laminate:
- Suited to large spaces
- Differentiates between each plank, offering a natural finish
Are you looking for the right laminate skirting and scotia for your home? Read our Skirting Boards & Scotia guide.
Microbevelled Edge Laminate
Some people found that bevelled edges could become dust-traps, so microbevels were introduced. Microbevelled means each plank has a slightly bevelled edge. It's a subtle way to distinguish between each laminate plank, as opposed to the deeper bevelled edge which some find too distinct. Similarly, to a bevelled edge, a microbevelled edge has some key benefits.
The main benefits of microbevelled edge laminate:
- Easy to maintain
- Differentiates between each plank, offering a natural finish
- Easier to install
Now we have gone through your edging options, it's important to consider room suitability.