Skirting boards or laminate flooring first? (and what to do when the skirting is already on)
13 July 2026
Fit the flooring first, skirting boards after, whenever the job gives you the choice. Lay the laminate with its 8 to 12 mm expansion gap to the bare wall, then fix the skirting to the wall on top of the boards. A standard 15 to 18 mm thick skirting swallows the gap entirely, leaving a clean wall-to-floor junction with no beading strip. The only reason to work the other way round is skirting that is already fitted and staying: then you either cover the gap with scotia beading or undercut the skirting and slide the boards underneath.
Should skirting go on before or after the flooring?
The three ways the job gets done, honestly compared:
| Approach | Finish | Effort | When it's right |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flooring first, skirting on top | Cleanest: gap fully hidden, no extra trim line | Lowest, on a renovation or new build | You're replacing the skirting anyway, or it isn't fitted yet |
| Skirting stays, scotia/beading covers the gap | Visible 18 × 18 mm strip along every wall | Lowest of all: mitre and pin | Skirting is staying and speed matters more than the trim line |
| Skirting stays, undercut and slide boards under | As clean as flooring-first | Highest: cutting every metre of skirting at floor level | Skirting is ornate, tall or well-fitted and you want it untouched |
One honest trade-off with flooring-first: the skirting sits on top of the boards, so when the floor is eventually replaced, the skirting comes off again. Most fitters accept that happily: a floor lasts 15 to 25 years, and skirting pops off and refits in an hour per room.
Why does flooring-first give a better finish?
Because it solves the expansion gap for free. Laminate is a floating floor: it needs 8 to 12 mm of clear space at every wall so it can expand and contract with humidity. That gap has to be hidden by something, and there are only two candidates:
- The skirting itself. At 15 to 18 mm thick, already part of the room, it covers a 12 mm gap with 3 to 6 mm to spare. Zero extra parts.
- A beading strip pinned to the skirting face: an extra line around the room, an extra material to buy (roughly £2 to £3 per metre), and mitres at every corner.
Fitting the skirting after also means you decorate it once: no cutting-in paint above a finished floor, no masking. And if a wall is out of straight, the skirting bridges small scribing sins in your edge rows: a wavy cut that would show against beading disappears under a 15 mm board.
What if the skirting boards are already fitted?
You have three options, in ascending order of effort:
- Remove and refit. Prise the skirting off, lay the floor, refix on top. Best finish, but count on some plaster repair, because old skirting rarely comes off clean, and MDF skirting often doesn't survive removal at all.
- Scotia or quadrant beading. Lay the floor to within 8 to 12 mm of the skirting, then pin an 18 × 18 mm scotia to the skirting (never to the floor). Fastest by a distance; the cost is a visible trim line that says "the floor came second".
- Undercut the skirting. Run a multi-tool or undercut saw along the skirting at board-plus-underlay height, typically 10 to 12 mm for an 8 mm board on 2 to 3 mm underlay, plus 1 mm of clearance. Use an offcut of board sitting on a piece of underlay as the height guide, exactly as you would when undercutting door frames. The boards slide under, the gap hides behind the skirting, and the finish matches flooring-first.
Does the skirting hold the floor down?
No, and it must not. Skirting is fixed to the wall, resting on (or a hair above) the boards, never nailed or glued through them. The same rule applies to beading: pin it to the skirting, not the floor. A floating floor that's clamped at its edges can't move, and a floor that can't move tells you about it within a season: peaking boards in summer humidity, gaps opening at the joints in winter. The skirting's job is to hide the expansion gap, not to close it.
How does the fitting order change your measurements?
If the skirting is coming off, measure and plan the layout to the bare walls, because the room is 30 to 40 mm wider in each direction than it looks with skirting on, which is easily enough to change your last-row width. Run the last-row check against the true wall-to-wall size before you commit to a starting wall: room width divided by plank width, and if the remainder is under about 50 mm, rip the first row narrower. If the skirting is staying and you're using beading, measure to the skirting face instead and keep the same 8 to 12 mm gap to it. Either way, a flooring calculator working from the correct room size, bare wall or skirting face, is what keeps you from buying a pack too few, and a layout planner will run the last-row check for every candidate starting wall at once.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you put skirting boards on before or after laminate flooring?
- After, wherever you have the choice. Lay the laminate with its 8 to 12 mm expansion gap to the bare wall, then fix the skirting on top. A 15 to 18 mm thick skirting covers the gap completely, so you get a clean junction with no beading strip.
- Can you lay laminate without removing the skirting boards?
- Yes, two ways. Either lay up to the skirting and cover the expansion gap with scotia or quadrant beading, or undercut the skirting with a multi-tool and slide the boards underneath, which is slower, but looks like the skirting was fitted afterwards.
- Should skirting boards touch the laminate floor?
- They should rest on the surface, or sit a hair above it, but never clamp it. Fix skirting to the wall only, and never nail or glue through the flooring. Laminate floats, and a floor pinned by its skirting can't move, which causes peaking and gaps later.
- What size expansion gap do you need under skirting?
- The same 8 to 12 mm you'd leave anywhere else; check your manufacturer's figure. Standard skirting is 15 to 18 mm thick, so the gap disappears under it with room to spare. With beading instead, an 18 × 18 mm scotia covers a 12 mm gap comfortably.