No skirting boards?

[One2another]

Ive just got a new house, there's years of paint on the skirting boards. i quite fancy having no skirting but what would I put to fill the gap between wall and floor? Does any fellow mumsnetters have this or aibu?
There will be carpets in bedrooms and staircase. Not decided if carpet or flooring in living room.

err you need skirting boards as far as I am aware. The plaster expands/contracts so you need a gap at the bottom of the wall to allow for this, otherwise it would get cracked I assume. You can take off the current skirtings, bin them and replace them with new ones with less paint- smaller if you like!

sorry maybe it's the floorboards that expand. one of them.

Watching with interest , I hate skirting boards .

Either replace nitromors. If they're as bad as mine were, then it will be cheaper and less hassle to replace.

** replace or nitromors

Yes. You need skirting boards.

The only house I've ever seen without them was an amazing architect designed one. There the floor was a floating one (wood raised on framework above the actual concrete with insulation in between) several inches above the bottom of the wall. At the edges there was a small gap sealed with some sort of resin.

I don't think you need them although they will prevent your walls getting scuffed when hoovering. If you're having flooring you could continue it up the wall a few inches to create a "skirting board"

I think you need to keep or replace. I remember watching one of these home makeover shows and the first thing everyone noticed was lack of skirting boards and they were immediately put in. If they are decent it does finish the room and can look unfinished otherwise.

Ive got mosaic tiles as skirting but I just put them over existing wood! And I live on a boat? I dont think this helps anyone ha!

Beading?

You can have no skirting, but as a PP mentioned, it is normally designed in from the start and is a very modern look - Google "shadow gap" for images. The plasterwork has to be perfect, as traditionally skirting covered up the rough edges where the plaster skim finished. If you like the shadow gap look but don't want the hassle, you can get recessed or flush finish skirting, which has a built in stop bead for the plasterer to work to. Nice look, I think. If you remove the existing ones, you'll prob need a tidy up of the plaster around the area.

Skirting was historically in place to prevent the broom damaging the wall finish, hence the 8inch Georgian stuff.
It has shrank down over the years as the Vacuum cleaner put pay to the brush.
Be careful of removing altogether, the wall would become quite visibly marked.

I'd replace them. You can get cheap skirting from b&q.
If you take them off you'll need to plaster the bottom of the wall or sand as it will be marked.

Downstairs rooms I'd also be worried about 'beasties ' coming in through the gap left between floor and wall too ! LOL

I had all my rough plaster on the walls hacked off, then baton put up and all boarded over with 18mm plywood that I stained. Kitchen and bathroom I used acrylic sealants. No skirting boards cos I hate them, and If I want shelves I can just screw them in to the board walls wherever I want them.

our house has no skirting boards but it is modern and done by an architect with perfect joins from oak floor to plaster walls. and it does need more maintenance / repainting etc. I wouldn't do it in a regular house.

We don't have have skirting, but we have rather smart, modern floor tiles and skirting would look wrong, plus I hate it :D. However my husband is a very good plasterer so we have a very neat finish on the walls and I'm pretty fanatical about not letting the floor get dirty. I use a Roomba ALL THE TIME and a kind of flat floor mop for cleaning, and sometimes use a wipe to go around the edges of the floor so there are no marks or damage to the walls. This doesn't take quite as long as it sounds because it's an open plan living area so not too many walls! It's not really any more irritating or difficult than going around cleaning the skirting boards was in our old house.

However when we replace the floors in the bedroom area, which is separate from the rest of the house (hard to explain) I shall use skirting tiles there, partly because the tiles we're using do come with a very modern and attractive skirting.

I though you might have said you were in a flood risk area. Have a look at some flood prevention websites as there may be options there.

We've got some skirtings off at the moment as we do some decorating. The plaster behind does not come down to the floorboards, there's a couple of inches 'free space' below the ragged bottom to the plaster, plus the electrical wires are sitting in the free space.

So if you removed the skirtings permanently, you'd have to replaster, and should you need to rewire you've got to dig the plastered-in wires out.

Skirting boards are practical.

A friend of mine has PVC ones. I thought they would look horrendous but they are nice, and easier to keep clean. Obviously they would depend on the house, probably best for a modern place.

My grandmother didn't have skirting boards but fancy long radiators instead.

I would put wall cladding up.

Oh I like wall cladding!

You dont need skirting. A friend of mine has her carpet going about a foot up the wall and is a great feature. Makes the room look cosy.

Yes wood cladding is great, especially running vertical. PVC cladding is great in bathrooms too. Zero maintenance, looks great and lasts forever.

Free the world from the tyranny of the skirting board I say !!