So, you’ve decided which beautiful flooring you want and are all set to go, when your flooring installer starts asking about transition points between your floors and your bathroom tiles, walls and bedroom carpet. Hmmmm…. Wha???
Yes, we do need to consider those finishes touches that elevate good floors to great and having a considered and (to the common observer) seamless transition at these points can make all the difference.
The first thing the installer will take into account is the type of flooring, as each system has different options for finishes.
This includes engineered timber, laminates, hybrids and bamboo floors. These types of floorings can have a few more transitions and trims and the Mint Floors team can explain these to you as much details as you like.
- Skirting boards
- Kickboards
- Scotia
- U-channels
- H-trims
- Cover trims that utilise base plate systems
Kickboards and skirting boards look best if these can be utilised.
Scotias are fitted in-front of a skirting board if the skirting board cannot be removed and need to match either the floor or wall colour. It may be best to match with the skirting colour in this case.
With aluminium trims it is usually best to match the floor colour where possible. H-channels sit nice and flat in doorways and C-channels are best choice when abutting a hard edge such as tile.
Cover type trims are used when terminating a junction between two different floor types i.e. carpet and engineered timber.
Finishes on fixed floors, hardwood floors often provide a neater finish, the main reason is that the floor is held in place, so there is no need for an edge trim to prevent upward movement of the floor.
Options for solid timber include:
- Flush finish options such as caulking and silicone joints
- Flat bar and angle
- Solid timber ramps and nosings
- Edges can sit under joinery
What looks best? A good rule is ‘less is more’, by effectiving ‘hiding’ expansion allowances by covering them with existing elements. By using existing elements such as joinery or skirting boards to cover expansion allowances, for example using an aluminium angle against a sliding door track that is the same colour as the door system making the expansion cover part of the door system and not a separate trim.
Exposed elements such as solid timber nosing or reducing trims, flat bar junctions, cork expansion trims or caulking joints. An example is covering the cut of herringbone parquetry to a brick wall instead of caulking, which is likely to be an untidy finish choice.
It’s something that isn’t usually top of mind when considering your flooring choice (rest assured that the team at Mint Floors + Shutters can advise you based on your homes specifications) but it is handy to have some knowledge on how and why certain choices are made and that flooring integrity plus finished look are always considered when making a particular choice.
For more information on flooring contact the Mint Floors + Shutters team. For more frequently asked questions on flooring, visit the Mint Floors + Shutters blog.
