Skirting over Laminate

[Belboz]

Have fitted laminate flooring before and used quadrant pinned to skirting.

I am decorating a room which has no skirting (yet) and I plan to use laminate flooring. My question to the experts out there is this;

Please can you tell me what method is used to affix the skirting to the walls when placing it over laminate?

Under everyday circumstances, I know that skirting is either nailed, screwed or glued into place but how do you factor in the fact that the laminate may well need to be replaced?

If nailed or glued then you would have to pull the skirting off which will cause damage to the walls.

If screwed, you would either have to fit the skirting so the screws are accessible (and thus visible) or use some other method which ensures that the skirting can be unscrewed and replaced.

You advice, as always, is much appreciated.

B

 

[Gerrydelasel]

Put thin spacers (e.g. bits of cardboard) under the skirting before fixing to the wall, so it is not jammed down against the floor. That way the laminate can be pulled out in the futurue without interfering with the skirting.

 

[Belboz]

Put thin spacers (e.g. bits of cardboard) under the skirting before fixing to the wall, so it is not jammed down against the floor. That way the laminate can be pulled out in the futurue without interfering with the skirting.

But how would that work with a fully laminated room? laminate goes the entire length and width of the room and would be under all 4 skirting boards. I don't see how it would come up....

 

[vinn]

You run your laminate 10mm shy of the walls and any abutments - the expansion gap.
You lightly fix your skirting on top - modern site practice is to "glue" the skirting to the wall but this doesn't give a tight to the wall fit. Painter's caulking is usually used to cover gaps.

I prefer to drill, plug & screw the skirting to the background - it keeps the skirting tight to the wall and allows accurate marking for outside corner mitres.
Drive the screw head in and fill and sand the plugged hole.

FWIW: always fix long lengths first, and pre-paint before fixing.

 

[Belboz]

Thanks vinn but perhaps I haven't explained myself clearly enough.

I have fitted skirting and I have fitted laminate. I am fairly confident doing both. However, I have never fitted the laminate under the skirting.

When I have previously fitted skirting, I have always screwed it - due to the wonky walls - then filled and sanded like you say.

When I have previously fitted laminate, I have always used quadrant so there has never been an issue when I have needed to lift the laminate floor up again.

What I am asking is whether there is some trade secret to fitting the skirting so that the laminate can be re-lifted easily.

 

[vinn]

I'm not sure what the difficulty is (the skirting is not there to hold the laminate down) - just lift the laminate at an exposed edge eg. the threshold, and work from there. You simply slide it out from under the skirting.
That would be the simplest non-destructive way I suppose.
Once you have one piece up then the rest will follow.
Its possible to lift laminate from in the field ie. a damaged strip but that info's on here if you search.

 

[Belboz]

I appreciate the skirting is not there to hold the laminate down but I don't see how you can slide the laminate out even at the single exposed edge - which here is the door threshold. The row where the threshold is cannot be lifted due to the skirting at either end unless you are saying that the laminate should be fitted so as to leave a larger expansion gap on 2 sides.

 

[vinn]

I have never had any difficulties with stripping laminate - its a kind of lift and flick or vibrate and the piece pops up or out.
If difficulties persisted then you could always pull a convenient short length of skirting, & work from that exposure?

 

[Doggit]

There is no trade trick to this problem Belboz, if the laminate needs to come up, then you need to take the skirting off of 2 walls, relay it, and then replace the skirting. Vinn's trick is good, but obviously you can't refit any laminate if the skirting is still on all 4 walls. But if you screw the skirting boards on, then you can see where to remove them, and if you caulk the inevitable gap at the tops of the skirting board, then you can run a sharp blade round it to remove it as cleanly as possible, and that's about the best I can suggest.

 

[Belboz]

Thanks Doggit - Not the answer I was hoping for but it was the answer I expected.

I just couldn't see how to fit the skirting to make it easily removable hence the question ( I thought the trade may have some magical way) Whilst I appreciate Vinn and GerryD trying to help, I couldn't see how I could pull laminate out when there is a 10mm expansion gap but 14mm of skirting.

Ah well....back to using quadrant

Thanks to all

B

 

[Gerrydelasel]

You would use a multi-tool to saw through one or two boards to get them out, then the rest would follow.

 

[Belboz]

You would use a multi-tool to saw through one or two boards to get them out, then the rest would follow.

Okay

 

[Doggit]

It's possible that you're worrying more than you need to. If you fit cheap laminate, you might get 5 years before it starts to look grotty, whereas a good quality laminate should last to a point where you'd be looking to redecorate the room as well.

 

[garyo]

I don't see the big deal with needing to take the skirting off and refit. Certainly preferable to the somewhat naff look of quadrant everywhere, and work involved in cutting that around the room.

 

[Belboz]

I don't see the big deal with needing to take the skirting off and refit. Certainly preferable to the somewhat naff look of quadrant everywhere, and work involved in cutting that around the room.

It's not a big deal. I agree that it would look better than using quadrant. I just wanted to know if there was some method the trade uses as opposed to glue//screw and fill.

I've got my answer.

Thanks again to all who offered advice.

B