Ordering New Skirting Boards: Allowing for Wastage

One of the more common questions we are asked by customers is how much extra skirting board they should order to allow for wastage. Generally, people who ask this question are looking for a definitive answer like

“add an extra 10%” or “get one extra length to make sure you are covered”.

With skirting boards, there isn’t really a simple rule like this to be followed. Instead, to work out how much to order you need to first know the answer to this question

“How important is the frequency/visibility of joins to me?”

If you are someone that prefers to have zero or as few joins as possible in your skirting board, you will probably find you need to order more skirting than someone decorating the exact same room who doesn’t mind how frequently they have to join 2 pieces of skirting board together.

Calculating the Required Amount of Skirting Board

To calculate how much skirting board to order, you could simply calculate the perimeter of the room by adding all of the wall measurements together. In this example that would be:

1.8m +

0.45m +

0.99m +

0.45m +

1.71m +

2.25m +

0.9m +

0.75m +

3.6m +

0.72m +

1.43m

Which gives a total perimeter of 15.05m.

Minimising Skirting Board Waste

To complete the room with minimal wastage, you would need to order 5 x 3050mm lengths. This would give you a total of 15.25m of skirting board and would leave you with only 0.2m more than you need.

To complete the room with minimal joins takes slightly more effort. You will need to pre-plan your cuts to know what mix of longer and shorter lengths you will need.

In this example, the best place to start is with the longest length, since it is greater than 3050mm so to complete this wall without a join you would need to order a 4200mm length.

This 4200mm length would leave you with 0.6m (or 600mm) to use elsewhere. The only place that this could be used is for one of the 0.45m returns where the alcove sits. When planning to use ‘offcuts’ on smaller walls it would be prudent not to mentally allocate the entire offcut in case part of it gets damaged during the initial cutting process. In the example we are discussing here, assume the offcut is 500mm in length rather than 600mm and you won’t be left short!

Looking at the sections of wall on the left-hand side, they are 0.72m and 1.43m. If you used a 4.2m piece for this you would also have enough left to complete the 1.8m section from the back wall, with 250mm allowance for cutting. This is quite tight but should be sufficient.

Remember, you are also trying to leave yourself with an offcut that can be put to good use so bear this in mind when planning.

The remaining sections along the back wall are 0.99m, 0.45m and 1.71m. Added together these total 3.15m. If you were to use a 4200mm board for these pieces you would have 1.05m remaining which could be used for the 0.75m section at the bottom right of the floor plan, with 300mm excess for making the cuts.

The only remaining sections are 2.25m and 0.9m, which would have to come out of a 4200mm board since their total length is greater than the shorter length of 3050mm. This will leave you with just over a metre of unused skirting board.

In summary, based on this example you can see that in order to minimise joins, you are better off ordering 4 lengths at 4200mm, rather than 5 lengths at 3050mm. In our opinion, it is always worthwhile spending some time planning how you will cut and use various lengths of skirting board before ordering. If you need any more help or advice in relation to this topic please get in touch with our sales team and they will be happy to help you.

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.