What are skirting boards for?

[CitizenOscar]

And do I need them in my new bathroom?

I'd never really thought about it before but now I'm all confused. We're renovating out bathroom and they've all been ripped out & the walls are about to be replastered.

Do I need to replace them? If so, we were thinking about making a narrow skirting using strips of the floor tiles. Would that work?

I think in a bathroom the floor tiles on the wall as a skirting always look cleaner and nicer than wooden ones.

to stop your walls fraying at the edges

i would replace - its not expensive. we have no skirting in the bathroom but when we redo it we will have - it just looks more finished.

They are to bridge the join between wall and floor, for aesthetic and insulating purposes. You can do without them if you choose that look, lots of Europe does.
Your idea sounds fine but consider what the top edge will look like, and if it's horizontal it will get dusty.

In my house, they are to stop slugs slithering in.

They are to stop people skirting. Of course.

They are for boys to ram cars into, repeatedly, because wood dents and gloss paint scuffs in a more satisfying way that a wall.

Thanks guys. I definitely don't want any skirting going on in my bathroom so better replace them

It's almost impossible to get a neat edge between plaster on a wall and a wooden floor so skirting boards cover the rough edge. They also stop you damaging the bottom of the plaster with the vacuum cleaner.

Most houses in continental europe don't have skirting board as we know it, just a small strip of beading/coving/edging type stuff (hope that makes sense).

......Here.

well, i've always wondered, but recent investigations under the kitchen units suggest that it's to stop arsing fucking mice from being able to get in under the arsing fucking plasterboard.

Thanks. I've sketched out what I want & will show the builder on Monday. So far he's been a bit about some of our choices.

Wish I'd found this bit of MN earlier. Might have prevented some of my many breakdowns in assorted bathroom/tile shops. I'm not a fan of home improvements but our leaky 15yrold bathroom had to go, so here we are.

I have bathrooms and kitchen all done with a tile strip same as the floor tile, it's a great job

Very changeable British weather makes our buildings prone to settlement - cracks and gaps that aren't subsidence, basically - and so straight edges are rare. Skirting boards and cornice coving (where the ceiling meets the walls) were to cover up the gaps where a neat edge was impossible to achieve.

New technology means these decorative cover-ups are no longer necessary, but I still love a deep cornice or a high skirting board, the more elaborate the better.

If you're doing a period look in the kitchen or bathroom, keep the skirting board in its original proportions. If you're going modern, don't. For a contemporary take on tradition, use contrast tile as a skirting board substitute.

The original reason for skirting was to protect the bottom of the wall from damage from Victorian women's dresses. I'm not sad, I'm a joiner and had to learn that as part of my studies lol

Does anyone have a picture of a wall without skirting, with a strip of tiling instead? {nosey} I can't quite picture it! Thank you.

We have 9 inch Victorian skirting and I live it!

I haven't got the strip of tiling but I think it's a neat job in my bathroom.

We have the tiling strip, our tiler suggested it and its brill, looks great and easy to keep. Light tiles though