Beading around laminate flooring Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[digitig]

I'm laying laminate flooring, which is going well. However, I need to put beading around the edge because I didn't feel up to removing and replacing the skirting. Two areas are giving me trouble: I have a bay window, so I need to take the beading around a rather tighter curve than it wants to follow, and the door frames have quite awkward profiles, too big to be (completely) covered by the threshold.

How should I deal with those two problem areas?

[NimbusII]

Hi,
Firstly the door frames/architraves & and inch of skirting next to architrave should have been cut to the same height as the thickness as your floor + underlay, then the flooring should have traveled underneath leaving the expansion gap hidden under the architrave. This way you would only need to bead upto the end of the skirting finishing with a double mitre on your end of beading/scotia to give a nice finish to the beading with no rough ends showing.

Secondly, depending on what type of beading you are using, if using wooden beading that is going to be painted the same colour as your skirting you can make cuts along the back of the beading this will allow the beading to bend without twisting forward, this can then be nailed and the nails sunk below level and filled as can the cuts you made earlier and sanded then painted.
If you are using the MDF foil/paper covered scotia you will need to cut to short lengths(length depends on tightness of curve) glued or pinned in place and then a similar shade mastic sealant to fill the facing gaps and white acrylic sealant to fill behind the scotia/beading..

Hope this helps

[digitig]

[quote="NimbusII"]Hi,
Firstly the door frames/architraves & and inch of skirting next to architrave should have been cut to the same height as the thickness as your floor + underlay, then the flooring should have traveled underneath leaving the expansion gap hidden under the architrave.[/quote]

Thanks, but the laminate I have has to be lifted to an angle whilst fitting, in order to lock onto the next piece. To fit it under the frames & skirting I'd have to cut at least 2cm above the level of the top of the floor, so I'd still have a gap to worry about -- just a vertical one instead of a horizontal one!

[NimbusII]

I am a floor fitter by trade,
80% of laminate non-glue system work that way... The fact that you have to elevate the floor to lock it in place is not a problem if you know what you are doing... It can still always be fitted under the architraves.. any other way is ugly and not correct.

[thedoctor]

Floor fitting, just as other carpentry jobs, is a trade. Unfortunately in their rush to sell the flooring, the stores do not avail you of any training or information. It is unrealistic for a lay person to walk into a trade of any kind and expect to pull off a perfect job. There are different ways to get laminates into position even in the most awkward of circumstances but for the lay person it is Always advised to take off skirtings and architraves first. The procedure is impossible to explain in text but most glueless laminates need to be lifted to lock and once skirtings are off and architraves off or cut it can be done. Most people think (because they have been told so by the stores) that laminate is a quick, cheap fix. The cheaper it is the harder it is to work with and it is not quick if it is done properly. Generally joining undere profiles involves making the difficult joint seperately and then joining tow or three cut sections to the rest of the floor at a place where you can manouvre the floor and joint.