Gap under plasterboard

[HXSparky]

I'm in the middle of a self-build project (nothing much happening at the moment!), and planning for how to fit the battens (vcl and service cavity) on the external walls ready to fit plasterboard to.

I'm fitting three battens at the bottom of the wall (to give plenty of scope for skirting to fasten to), but just want to check where I should ideally place the bottom batten.

The screed will come to dpc level (the bottom of the timber frame sole plate) and we'll have about 25mm of flooring on top of that (limestone tiles and engineered oak).

I was planning to leave a 20mm gap between plasterboard and screed and then fill with foam, but that will mean that the finished floor ends up just above the bottom of the plasterboard.

Does this sound right, or should I be leaving a bigger gap (maybe around 35mm) so that there's space between the tiles/oak and the bottom of the plasterboard (which the skirting will cover)?

 

[darrington]

I would "always" leave a gap between the bottom of the plasterboard and "any" finished floor level, the skirting will always cover that gap.
It's even more important to leave a gap if it's a solid floor.

 

[HXSparky]

Thanks darrington, but you've hit on one of the inconsistencies I've come across in the self-build world! Builders will say that the top of the screed is the finished floor level, but when we had things measured up for windows and doors, they were insistent that the finished floor level was the top of the tiles/oak (so that they could make sure that doors would open).

When you say "any" finished floor level, is it the sub-floor (screed) or tiles/oak that you're referring to? That's really the crux of the question I'm trying to get an answer to.

 

[darrington]

I would refer to the "actual" finished floor level in your case, as the top of the tiles, oak flooring etc.

 

[darrington]

When we screeded sand and cement floors in the past, many of the doorframes were already fitted, ready for the doors to be hung, so we would set the level of the floor screed "dots" ( from which we set our floor levels), about 10mm or so BELOW the bottom of the doorframes. This would allow the door to be fitted back into the frame without any adjustments, and also allowed for, (in these cases), thick vinyl to be laid, and a thin metal carpet strip, fitted to the floor, just under the door.