The selection of skirting boards can be extremely overwhelming, or strangely limited, depending on where you look. Catalogs of timber merchants tend to have six different types of oak moldings, making you think they know your preferences. The large DIY stores stock MDF boards that they have painted to resemble timber, and this is not always obvious from the label.
Oak skirting boards sit comfortably in this market, can be more expensive and sometimes trickier to fit, but in the right property they offer something painted MDF boards simply can’t. They age with a property and lose none of their character, while MDF boards lose theirs.
Solid Oak vs Engineered Oak, the key differences
The difference between solid and engineered oak causes the most confusion. The term `engineered’ can lead one to think this is a cheaper version, which is not always the case. Solid oak skirting boards are cut from a single length of timber. It is again what most think of, and this is also the version that is likely to move across the seasons if the humidity of the space changes, which can happen and does in older UK houses that have variable heating.
Engineered Oak Skirting Boards are constructed with a real oak veneer over a stable core, usually HDF. As a result, the board is stable, and there is a minimal amount of movement in rooms that are adjacent to external walls or ground floor extensions. Real versus artificial oak has no bearing on which is better. It is situational.
Why most people overthink the profile selection
The nuanced names of the profiles can make you think there is more complexity to the selection than there actually is. The essential question is, does the room have traditional features or not? If there are traditional features, then the skirting boards should reflect that and banisters / cornicing and dado rails could sit well. However, if the interior is modern and contemporary, and there are no traditional features, then a clean, simple square or pencil rounded edge would look better.
Oak is a heavy, bold material and the grain can be overwhelming for a small room, where painted MDF may not have as big of an impact, as the eye would likely be drawn to the grain rather than the shape of the skirting boards. Because power tools help to place the boards and check if the height of the skirting boards is ideal, measure the wall to be safe and make a quick cardboard mock-up to check the height.
What most companies neglect to mention about their products is the finishing.
Oak skirting is sold as either rough cut or lightly sanded. The finishing you decide you apply ultimately determines the outcome of the product, not the oak itself. Hardwax oil actually gives an amazing matte finish that is easy to maintain and is much cheaper than dealing with repainting areas that get damage. Lacquer is also an option, but also more difficult to deal with. If you are looking to lacquer, you have to be prepared for wear that may be extremely noticeable and hard to deal with, and also will only be fixable by repainting the entire board, which can ruin its appearance.
Painting is also an option, as some prefer making the skirting boards match the rest of the woodwork, but this goes against the whole reason you decided to use oak, and more than likely will direct you to choose MDF skirting. If you have decided you want your room to be mainly MDF, again feel free to do so.
Fitting
If you have uneven floors, or partially straight walls (like the average of most UK houses), fitting oak skirting boards will be much more of a hassle than MDF skirting boards. First of all, oak is much harder to scribe, and requires much more of a sharp blade when cutting, where MDF skirting boards won’t create an uneven line. To compensate, you have to deal with creating an internal cope rather than an external miter, to avoid creating a lack of evenness.
If you don’t feel confident doing it yourself, there is no harm in seeking professional help. More often than not, the reason oak skirting boards look worse than MDF is due to poor fitting that is visible to the customer.