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:

	http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joe.tully/doorway.jpg

It'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.

Joe T wrote:

> 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:
> 
>     http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joe.tully/doorway.jpg
> 
> It'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.


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

Mike Dodd wrote:


> 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


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

Joe T wrote:

> Mike Dodd wrote:
> 
>> 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
> 
> 
> 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.
> 


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.