Engineered Board: Fit bead or raise skirting? Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[SWally]

G'Day All

First time post. This question has been touched on before, but would appreciate more detailed answer. I'm a DIYer, about to lay 14mm eng. board & 7mm u/lay board & d/p membrane over concrete.

A lot of pros recommend removing skirting board, & cutting slice from base of door frames. I would like to avoid this if possible, and simply use coloured bead to cover expansion joints.

Assuming that I can live with the reduced visible skirting height ( 7mm down to 5mm, and rather duff appearance of bead, is there any TECHNICAL reason against this method?

thanks

[Joiner_Mike]

No as long as there is still enough expansion gap around ALL of the floor. It's no good having 10mm on one wall when it can't expand to this as the door casing on has a 5mm gap.
How are you fixing the floor? If you are just gluing the tounge and groove and using it as a floating floor u will probably find allot more problems. There are easier ways which will also reduce the expansion.
I have found though fitting floors that oak is the worst for expanding, But eng floors do tend to expand less than a normal solid flooring.
You can glue the floor down using T54 Sika bond straight onto the concrete floor. sika products are expensive about £80 for approx 10 square metres but i've never seen a floor expand 2mm with this stuff.

[tonylmiles]

Sorry for the awful Shakespeare pun...

Apologies if this reply comes after you've made a decision but I had a similar dilemma a while back.

We've recently completed a new self-build project and fitted the house out with Kahrs oak 14mm engineered flooring, the type that locks together. No glueing, no screwing, no nailing! The wood flooring has been laid over a concrete screed (underfloor wet heating system). We used the recommended damp-proof membrane underlay and paper top covering. We decided to leave the skirting unfixed so that the flooring could go down easily first and then fix the skirting when done. The end result is so much better from a visual perspective and everything we hoped it would be. Even for a rank DIY amateur like myself it was a doddle to do. Obviously it's a relatively tiring job but enormously fun and satisfy to do.
The same company also supply colour-matched beading for those who removing the skirting is not an easy option. So the choice really is yours at the end of the day. As long as you leave the recommended expansion gap all round then all should be well. Best of luck with way.