How to Join Square Groove Skirting Board and Architrave

One of the foremost attractions of the square groove/square groove 2 profiles is that the can be fitted so that the groove(s) form a seamless continuous groove along the skirting board and around the door. This is a highly desirable feature in more modern themed interiors, but it can be quite confusing when planning the necessary cuts. This blog explains the necessary steps you need to take to achieve this look yourself.

We've created a video and a step by step guide found below:

Using a set square and pencil, begin by making marks around the door 5mm from the opening as you usually would when fitting architrave. For more information see 'How to fit Architrave'

Next, grab an offcut of the skirting board you will be fitting (or the full length if you do not yet have any offcuts) and mark on the wall in pencil along the top of the piece of skirting board to establish where the skirting will meet (intersect) with the architrave.

Once the marking is in place on the wall, pick up the piece of architrave that will be used as the upright and hold it in position. Again using a pencil, mark on the architrave the point where the skirting board will meet this piece of the architrave. Also, make a mark to remind yourself which direction you will need to cut the 45-degree angle on this piece so that you don’t forget on your way over to the mitre saw and accidentally cut the architrave in the wrong way.

Once this first cut has been made, take the same piece of architrave back to the doorway and hold it in position. You are now going to mark the architrave to guide you where to cut this end so that it is the correct length, and so that the groove will continue seamlessly from the upright to the crossbar.

Look for the marking you made on the wall at the outset that is 5mm away from the door opening. At the point in the corner that is 5mm away from the side AND top of the door, make a marking on the architrave. Again, make an additional mark on the architrave to show the direction the cut needs to be.

You can follow 'How to fit Architrave' for full instructions on how to continue to fit the architrave, as the procedure is the same regardless of profile.

In order to align the groove on the architrave upright with the horizontal groove on the skirting board, you now need to cut the skirting board to size. Usually when fitting skirting board you would measure from the corner of the wall to the outside edge of the architrave, but in this case, the skirting board is actually going to run right across the floor to the doorway and essentially have the architrave sitting on top of it. For this reason, you will need to measure the distance from the corner of your room to the 5mm line you drew around the door at the outset. Once you have the measurement you can cut a piece of skirting board to the correct size.

Now that you have the skirting board cut to size, you now need to cut it so that the groove in the architrave intersects the groove in the skirting board at a perfect 90-degree angle. Start by marking the thickness of the architrave onto the skirting board. You can do this by either measuring the width of the architrave or by placing the architrave temporarily on the edge of the skirting board and marking the width this way.

Once the width of the architrave has been plotted onto the skirting board, you can now cut a 45-degree angle into the top of the skirting board so that it matches up with the 45-degree angle you cut into the bottom of the architrave upright near the start of the process.

The finish before filling and painting should look like this...

About the Author

Kieron Miller is the Managing Director of Skirting 4 U and has been working in the skirting board and online retail industry since 2012. Kieron has been using his extensive product knowledge and problem-solving experience to help both trade and private consumers all over the country find the perfect skirting board products for their projects. He continues to innovate new solutions and product ideas as the market continues to grow.