wood flooring and skirting boards

[kirsten975]

hi

we want to lay solid oak flooring but don't like the idea of finishing it with trim. We have recently decorated (wallpaper) so don't think we can remove the skirting boards. We're thinking of cutting the skirting boards at the base. has anyone tried this or know if there's a magic tool? any advise would be most welcome!!

Many thanks

 

[ronnyb]

I'm about to lay laminate myself and having the same problem where I don't want to remove the skirting boards. See the tools and materials forum about the Bosch pmf180e.

 

[JamesA]

Surely it'd be easier to just replace the skirting with a slightly higher one.

You've got the cost to hire/buy a tool and I'd personally find it difficult to get a nice clean straight edge.

 

[ronnyb]

The question was though, how to do it without removing the skirting boards. Not only that, there's the bottoms of the door frames and arcitraves to cut, It's quite awkward to cut them so near the floor with a handsaw.

 

[Symptoms]

kirsten - what are you going to lay your new oak floor over - concrete, existing floorboards, existing sheet flooring (eg. chipboard)? If floorboards or chipboard, lift the stuff and fix the new stuff to the joists; if you're lucky the gap left below the skirting (after removing the old stuff) might allow the new to slip under. Obviously, do a check before lifting the old and try to match old/new thicknesses.

Trim does look naff, but if you can't do the above there are some decent decorative mouldings available which can be used as 'trims' but make the existing skirtings look OK - pin these to the skirtings, then paint to match.