How To Cut A Plastic Skirting Board For The Floor
How to choose a plinth for a floor what to be guided by by color How to choose a plinth for a floor: how to choose what to choose by color. Which floor plastic skirting board to choose under doors and walls, the rules for choosing on and
How to choose the color of the plinth for linoleum
An extensive selection of colors and textures of linoleum sometimes makes it very difficult to choose the color of a floor plastic skirting board. If the linoleum coating imitates a wooden canvas with the appropriate color, then it is quite possible to choose a suitable frame. The same principles apply as for wood flooring described above. The situation is completely different if linoleum has an unusual texture, imitates marble chips or natural stone, for example. See also: “How to install skirting boards on linoleum, recommendations from experts.”
In this case, designers recommend two ways to solve the problem:
- In some cases, the color of linoleum is so unique that it is impossible to choose the appropriate edging for it. For these purposes, special skirting boards equipped with grooves on the front side are available for sale. After laying the covering, planks made of the same linoleum as the floor are inserted into these grooves. The resulting skirting boards perfectly match the finished flooring and are exclusive.
- Laying linoleum with several shades in color, choose the color for the edging that best matches the decor elements. That is, the plinth should also overlap in color with furniture, window frames and platbands. For unusual colors such as, say, gravel chips, when selecting edging, you should rely on the main interior of the room.
For what elements do you need to select skirting boards
Since every interior is rich in different elements, the principle of how to choose a skirting board can depend on various reasons.
The following elements can influence the selection of skirting boards:
- Ceilings;
- Ceiling beams;
- Walls;
- Platbands;
- Window frames;
- Door leaves;
- Furniture;
- Interior details and accessories (including small details such as vases, pillows or lighting fixtures).
How the material of the floor covering affects the choice of skirting boards
In order to correctly organize the finishing of the floor, you should consider what to choose a plinth for the floor, that is, the material of the floor covering plays an important role in this. It is not necessary to combine the coating and skirting boards that have different textures, because it not only looks inorganic, but also inexpedient from the point of view of the budget.
There are certain rules on how to choose a plinth for the floor to make it look appropriate:
- Veneer or solid wood skirting boards. Such products are most preferable in combination with floors made of valuable or inexpensive types of wood, in particular, we are talking about parquet or deck boards (for more details: “How to choose and install wooden skirting boards for the floor”).
- PVC skirting boards. Such material is widely used for framing floors covered with linoleum, as the most actively used floor covering. The relevance of plastic skirting boards in this case is understandable, because in texture they are very similar to this coating. In addition, such skirting boards look no less presentable in tandem with laminate or carpet. In addition, PVC skirting boards are inexpensive products.
- Metal skirting boards. Planks made of chrome or regular metal are the best fit for finishing the floor with porcelain tiles, creating a high-tech style.
- Skirting boards from LDF. Products in this category are optimally combined with laminate, carpet, wood and even ceramic tiles. They have recently appeared on sale, however, they have already managed to win the sympathy of consumers. Skirting boards made of LDF can be painted independently in any color, giving the interior the necessary accents.
- Ceramic skirting boards. Of course, this type of finish is only used in combination with tiled or porcelain stoneware floors in rooms with high humidity levels. Often, skirting boards should not be specially selected for a specific type of tile, since they are made from the same material and in the same color scheme. See also: “How to install a plinth in the bathroom on the floor, the pros and cons of different types.”
Influence of the interior on the choice of the color of the baseboard
In those days, when there was no variety of building materials on the market, no one really thought about what color the baseboards on the floor should be, they bought the same as the shade of the floor covering. Currently, this problem is no longer relevant, since it is not difficult to choose a plinth for a floor by color among a wide variety of colors and textures. Now you can afford to make your wildest fantasies come true.
What to consider when choosing skirting boards by color for wooden floors
Interior specialists have developed a whole system of conditions, how to choose a plinth for a floor by color.
In the case of wooden floors, consider the basic shade of the flooring.
If the dominant colors of the flooring in the room are warm light shades of birch, maple, beech, acacia or ash, the whole environment becomes warm and cozy. A slightly more neutral shade is beige.
These shades of flooring can be combined with skirting boards in various shades available on the market. In addition, light floors do not limit the replacement of furniture, which can be done without regard to the color of the coating. Another advantage of a light floor is the convenience of caring for it; stains or scratches on such a coating are much less noticeable.
Consequently, both light and dark skirting boards are equally well suited for floor coverings in warm colors, with an eye only to the prevailing interior elements.
When choosing a frame for an orange or reddish floor, it is important to take into account the fact that cherry, mahogany or walnut wood requires a competent approach to the design of the surrounding interior. In particular, the shade of cherry on the floor will sound harmoniously in combination with yellowish, green or dark brown.
It should be remembered that the color of the frame should also be in tune with some interior items. Often orange or red flooring is preferred by fans of the colonial style in interiors.
Intense dark shades, in particular brown oak, bring an atmosphere of security and home comfort to the interior. Typically, designers choose such coatings in combination with country-style furniture.
A dark floor will look harmonious in different styles of interiors, however, such an intense color requires a lot of light in the room.
It is optimal if cream, beige, white, yellowish or greenish shades are used in tandem with a brown floor. But it is not worth stopping the choice on black, as this will bring gloom and depression into the atmosphere.
How to choose a plinth for a floor what to focus on by color
The final step in any work with floor coverings is to install skirting boards around the perimeter of the room. However, not everyone knows how to choose a plinth for the floor so that it not only fulfills its practical functions, but also serves as a decorative element that complements the interior of the room.
How to choose a floor plinth, what to look for when buying, as well as what nuances should be taken into account when working with various types of coatings, we will talk further in the material supplemented by and.
Some designers use a color similar to skirting boards to hide pivot doors, for which they apply it to the bottom of the door leaf.
There are many types of skirting boards from a wide variety of materials. In particular, skirting boards are made of plastic, MDV, LDF, gypsum, glass, mosaic, porcelain stoneware and natural wood veneer or solid wood (read: “Porcelain stoneware skirting board types and advantages”). And yet the material does not play the most important role when deciding which plinth to choose for the floor. The shape, size and color of these decorative elements are also very important factors, which we will discuss in more detail below.
Cutting skirting boards at non-standard angles
Modern design solutions in interior decoration often consist in the use of original forms. In this case, it is quite difficult to carry out the installation of a floor plinth in non-standard corners. After all, they are often both internal and external at the same time. Sometimes the corners are completely rounded. That is why the docking methods described above are not suitable.
If you are dealing with a round corner, then you need to cut the skirting board into 4-5 pieces. Using the connection plugs, carefully lay out the entire corner in small pieces. Do not forget to fix them with glue or putty. This will give you a neat rounded corner.
If you have an inside-outside corner in the room, then you should take the following steps:
- On one side, we apply a plinth and draw its border on the floor.
Now we apply the second half and make two marks: one intersection with the drawn border, the second with the wall.
We connect the resulting points and make a cut.
- We carefully close the ends with plugs.
- If you use wooden skirting boards to finish non-standard corners, then instead of plugs you will have to use putty. After hardening, the resulting surface must be carefully sanded with sandpaper. And the principle of how to cut corners for a wooden plinth remains the same.
The main types of floor skirting boards
To date, skirting boards made of the following materials are used for finishing the premises: wood, plastic, MDF.
Wooden skirting boards are a traditional type of finishing product. In old houses only such were laid on the floor. Wooden skirting boards have a raised surface on the outside and special grooves for mounting wires and cables inside them. They are fixed with self-tapping screws, less often nails. It is allowed to use a sealant to fix them on the floor. If self-tapping screws are used for fastening, then dowels are pre-installed in the walls.
Among the advantages of wooden skirting boards are durability, environmental friendliness, safety for humans and animals, and the possibility of reuse.
However, their use does not always allow you to hide the wiring. In addition, after installing a wooden skirting board, it must be additionally putty and varnished, paint, stain. In addition, wood is an expensive material, and therefore products from it will be distinguished by a high cost. And before cutting the skirting boards to the floor, you will need to prepare special equipment.
Plastic skirting boards are simple and convenient products for finishing flooring. In them, everything is most often thought out to the smallest detail: the design of the outer and inner corners, pockets for laying cables and wires, end caps, special fasteners for fixing on the wall and floor.
Plastic skirting boards are distinguished by quick installation, a variety of colors, no need for putty and painting after installation, and the presence of additional elements for sealing joints. This finish goes well with any flooring material: parquet, carpet, tiles, laminate, linoleum. Whatever coverage you have, you can easily match a plastic skirting board to it.
However, plastic is fragile, and if it is hit hard, chips and holes can appear on its surface. This will require a complete replacement of the entire whip of the product, as a minimum. Despite this drawback, modern builders prefer plastic skirting boards due to the large number of its advantages.
MDF skirting boards are environmentally friendly and attractive products. Dye-impregnated paper is glued to their front side. Over, the process is carried out at high temperature and under pressure. This excludes flaking of the decorative coating during operation.
A melamine coating is applied on top of the paper. It protects the skirting boards from moisture and stubborn dirt. Even when exposed to direct sunlight, the product will not lose its appearance for many years. Also, the advantages of MDF skirting boards include quick installation, easy maintenance, cost-effectiveness, and a wide palette of shades.
Before joining the floor plinth in the corners, remember that MDF is highly fragile. In the process of mounting and cutting such a product, extreme accuracy is important.
Plastic or MDF, from which skirting boards are made, are lightweight materials that have a large number of colors. That is why it is quite easy to choose a product for any interior decoration and design solution. Most often, when choosing a color, skirting boards are repelled by the shade of the floor covering.
How to cut the corners of a skirting board
The acquired plinth must be cut according to the perimeter of the room. To make this process faster and easier, you can draw a diagram of it on a sheet of paper, marking all the outer and inner corners.
Skirting board installation tools
The procedure for trimming and joining skirting boards from different materials is not much different. The main difference is that wood, plastic and MDF have different hardness and density, and working with wood, for example, is more difficult. If a sharp knife is also suitable for cutting plastic, then a hacksaw is needed for wood.
To work with wooden, plastic or MDF skirting boards you will need:
- The miter box is a special carpentry tray for sawing, on the sides of which there are slots at different angles.
Roulette and pencil.
A hacksaw, jigsaw or carpenter’s knife. Any of these tools will work for cutting. But it’s up to you to decide how to cut the plastic skirting board. It depends on which tool is easier for you to work with.
Fine-grained sandpaper.
Sealant or putty.
Fasteners (screws, dowel-nails).
Forming outer corners on skirting boards
If you have a classic outer angle of 90 degrees, then the process of forming it is the same as for the inner one. When cutting, you must remember which baseboard you have on which side. After receiving the joint, it is necessary to close the ends with a special plug. If during the cutting process there are small flaws, they can be easily corrected with mastic, and then closed with a plug.
If you have non-standard angles, then cutting the plinth is reduced to the following steps:
Using a pencil, mark its inner and outer borders.
We do the same with another skirting board.
As with the inside corner, we get a rhombus just outside. Its diagonal will serve as the cutting edge.
With the help of a file and a miter box, we trim.
We carefully clean the resulting ends and install the plinth.
Alternative to standard views
The correct tool will not jag on the cut edges
After the PVC skirting board is cut, there should be no chips at the edges. A properly chosen tool that will have to cut the skirting board does not cause cracks or significant irregularities at the edges of the edge.
The electric jigsaw is no less popular with builders, but it can only be used when working with panels. Skirting boards, which feature fairly thin walls, cannot be cut qualitatively with such a device.
The safest and most effective after a hacksaw for metal is the usual assembly (wallpaper) knife.
Cutting thin-walled skirting boards that are attached to the floor with this tool is quite quick and easy.
PVC floor skirting boards equipped with a cable duct are easiest to cut with a conventional hand jigsaw. It will allow you to make a clear cut, keep the edges of the edge intact and prevent the plank from cracking.
The installation of the skirting board starts from the far inner corner. If the wall is long, then you will have to use a connecting plug, and then cut the plinth strip, not reaching 1.5 cm to the edge of the wall or 0.5 cm to the next corner. Regardless of the number of corners and joints, cutting is carried out strictly in a straight line, which greatly facilitates the work. For a detailed manual on cutting and joining skirting boards, see this:
Choosing the right tool
Completing the repair and finishing work in the room, each specialist asks how to cut the plastic skirting board. The answer depends on how important the quality of the resulting edge is.
If the quality of the edge is not very important, but the speed of work is important, then many builders and finishers use a grinder.
The thickness of its disc is such that the cut line will be quite wide, but the edges will not always be able to please the owner with their quality. However, with this tool, you can perform a fairly large amount of work in a short time.
The grinder will leave a flat edge
You can even cut the plinth with metal scissors if you don’t have another tool at hand. Such manipulation cannot be called convenient, but if necessary, the master will easily cope with the task at hand.
In any case, the cutting tool must meet certain requirements, including:
How to cut a plastic baseboard for a floor: a choice of tools
When choosing how to cut a plastic skirting board, they prefer a familiar and fairly easy-to-use tool. We are talking about a hacksaw familiar to all craftsmen.
However, this is not enough, since it is required not only to accurately make a straight cut, but also to accurately and correctly cut the corners.
For the high-quality performance of this operation, you will need such a device as a carpenter’s miter box. It is with its help that you can cut an angle of 45 or 90ͦ. Of course, you can use a grinder, but in this case the cutting line will be quite wide, which is not always convenient.
Working with ceiling plinths
Beginners often ask how to cut a ceiling plinth to form an inside or outside corner. Ceiling skirting boards cannot be cut accurately without using a miter box. This device allows you to cut at any desired angle.
Correct trimming can be done with strict adherence to geometric shapes. Using a miter box makes it possible to obtain a perfectly smooth and precise cut.
Scheme of work with miter box
The full set has slots designed to cut workpieces at an angle:
- 45 ͦ;
- 60 ͦ;
- 67.5 ͦ;
- 90 ͦ.
To carry out the operation, during which it is necessary to install the plinth in the corner, it is necessary to cut the panel exactly 45 ͦ. In this case, the two pieces put together will give a full 90 ͦ when creating both the outer and inner corners. For more information on how to properly cut skirting boards with the required angle, see this:
Any skirting board (ceiling or floor) is cut after the correct slope has been determined.
The location of the cut on the inner or outer surface of the part depends on the configuration of the corner itself.
In cases where the walls in the room are uneven and there are practically no strict corners, you should not use a miter box. It is better to cut the skirting boards by hand using a regular painting (stationery) knife.