Laminate flooring - filling a recess

I'm fitting laminate flooring in a hallway with numerous doors.

Around the skirting board edges I can put in cork expansion strips and cover with beading. However, the doorways are recessed and I'm not sure how best to handle those. Here's a photo to illustrate:

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's quite a large gap and I'm not sure how best to fill it in so that it doesn't look conspicuous.

I would guess that leaving exposed cork is not a good idea, as it will wear quickly.

Reply to
Joe T
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My approach (which I'm sure will be rejected here later) would be...

Another sheet of laminate, the length of the door. Profile gauge - to transfer the profile of the architrave onto laminate. Remove existing wooden floor-plate / interface / whatever - the mahogany stained item. Using router, or similar, remove a lip from the edge that is exposed to new laminate - to allow laminate to slid UNDER. A prayer - to assist the replacement of floor-plate and last laminate piece "simultaneously" - or a 2lb lump hammer (hey, they always find a use)

Just to annoy you, it'd probably have been easier in the long run to remove the skirting board and cut a 10mm slot in the bottom of the architrave to allow the laminate to butt-up to the entrance to the room behind, in hind-sight.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Dodd

Thanks Mike, I haven't actually started laying the floor yet - I was just thinking ahead to any possible problems, in case I decide to abandon the project and go for carpet instead!

I'm being a bit of a wimp and looking for the easiest way to do the job! I would imagine that removing the skirting board would be a fairly major job and result in damage, requiring replacement.

The wooden floorplate has four wooden plugs, which if drilled out, I assume will reveal screws. I would guess that it will then easily slide out. Then to re-fit I would have to find replacement wooden plugs. I don't know if these come in standard sizes and are easy find replacements for.

In the end, I'll still have the contoured door frame, which won't allow part of the expansion area to be covered up.

In my quest to find the easiest route, I had thought of getting some cork tiles and cutting these to shape to fit the gap. But I don't know how this would look when finished.

Joe

Reply to
Joe T

The contoured door frame is precisely why I suggest removing 10mm from the bottom - to allow a more "triangular" cut to be made in the laminate that slides under the edge, leaving the expansion gap / differences in contour hidden underneath the door frame.

Re. the wooden plugs - if you can't find the same size, drill an over-sized hole to the diameter of a plug that you can find. Or wood filler (bah)

Skirting board?, depends if you can find a matching replacement, in which case removal is probably a lot easier that you might think. A lot would depend on the condition of the wall, however (e.g. plasterwork) and whether the skirting had been nailed, or no-more-nailed to the wall in the first place. Personally, next time I laminate the whole skirting is coming off and being replaced with new.

Reply to
Mike Dodd

Joe, Have you bought the beading and actually tried it in place yet? The cork strip I bought was too wide to cope with both the irregular wall and narrow beading. I had to lift it and cut it's width a bit!

I'm with Mike! When I went on to do a bedroom and the bathroom I pulled off the skirting board, and tucked the laminate under it. Even then some walls were too out of true to completely hide the laminate under the skirting, so some "shaving" of the laminate edge might be necessary.

Yes some damage is caused, and it's suprising (in a 40 year old house) how far back you need to go to get purchase when screwing it back on. I had to fill some plasterwork in also where pulling the skirting off took the plaster too. But it was a much neater and more satisfying job.

Regards, Richard

Reply to
Dickie mint

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