Finishes On Skirting Boards And Architraves

Most of you will know by now the importance of a skirting board or architrave. Skirting boards protect the walls from damage and can help make your home stand out. The architraves do a similar role but, this time they help to make your doors stand out.

These days, however, many different profile designs exist with new opportunities for homeowners to finally make their house a home. Simply put, most people can now live in peace, knowing they do not have to stick with the same old average look.

However, there’s another part to the story. You see while people can make their houses look the way they’ve always wanted, the finishing of the skirting boards hasn’t changed all that much.

Not only are most skirting boards painted white which is the norm, but they are also finished in white gloss paint. The gloss allows both the skirting and architrave to shine and enhances their look. While this is a nice gesture, most people don’t know of the other finishes that can be applied to skirting boards or architrave.

To start with, let's go over the common aspects of what most people will receive when they get either their skirting boards or architraves.

Unprimed

An unprimed finish refers to a piece of skirting board or architraves which are uncoated and unpainted. Essentially, these are pieces of wood which have a profile and nothing else.

Now, unprimed is only beneficial in two ways; One, it allows for quicker creation and delivery times if you were to order one of these online. Two, if you know how to paint skirting or architrave already, this can save you some money if you wish to do it yourself. You may also do this if you wish to do it in a finish that’s different from gloss paint.

Unprimed is popular when ordering pine skirting boards because you can leave these as they are for a natural finish or even stain them.

Otherwise, unprimed finishes are not recommended as it can take more time to get the items fitted within the home and most people will have to pay extra for a builder to paint and fix the boards in the home. All of this explains why a good chunk of the public will lean toward it.

Primed

A primed finish refers to a piece of skirting or architrave getting coated in white primer. It is simply a layer of primer that is used as a base for the undercoat.

This eliminates the need to buy an unprimed piece as these will need priming, undercoating and painting before fitting to a wall.

As mentioned before, although the primed finish is beneficial, it’s not the best finish that we offer. It is however the most popular choice when buying MDF skirting boards.

Undercoated

Our undercoated finish option is the best we offer. The boards are sanded, sprayed with 1 coat of primer, sanded again and then sprayed with 1 coat of undercoat.

If you choose this option, the boards will be ready to have the final paint finish applied! With that, let's get on with the finishes you can choose from when painting your boards:

White Gloss

This is the default paint that most skirting boards and architraves will receive. Gloss paint allows for a shining effect which helps makes the boards look more attractive and professional looking. The paint has other advantages too.

Its dust and moisture resistance thus minor spills and dust will not spoil the look or finish of the boards. This allows people to clean their skirting without too much worry.

Gloss paint is cheap as it's everywhere, readily available and even if you scrub your skirting boards, it will not come off easily. White gloss paint will work best on white skirting boards or architraves.

Satin

A satin finish is a little different compared to white gloss. The process is the same, two coats of primed finish but, once the final finish is ready, this paint is more water based than the gloss finish. It also gives more texture than the gloss finish and has a velvet look to it. This can really benefit some of the more detailed designs such as the London skirting board as it will give the profile added texture and detail to an already detailed skirting board.

Satin is quite common in homes in the UK. This means replacement paint is not a problem and is quite cheap to buy. Although Satin has a more interesting look than normal gloss paint, it’s not as resilient; It's more prone to scratches and it's not as dust or moisture resistant. It also isn’t as cheap but, if you want a different finish and are careful, the Satin finish might be one to consider.

Eggshell

An eggshell finish is quite interesting. Again, like the other two finishes, the eggshell has two coats applied in the same way as the other two paints. However, the difference this time is that once applied the skirting and architraves will now have a matte-type look to them. Because of this, the shine or gloss look will be gone. Homeowners are starting to love this look as it allows the boards to blend in with the surrounding environment & still look the part.

The other benefits include the chance to repaint the skirting should the old paint start to fade. You can do this with the other finishes, but these will degrade as you continually repaint them. The eggshell will allow you to paint over it and will allow the new finish to be presented in all its goodness. While eggshell isn’t very common now, if it keeps getting recommended, soon it could be everywhere, just like gloss paint.

Summary

So, there you have it, these are some of the more common finishes that can be applied to a skirting board or architraves. Just a few more can be done too, such as adding a new colour to the skirting boards or architraves. This further will allow users to create the environment and atmosphere they desire. Ultimately, this is still limited so the finishes as explained above will be most used by customers.

Hopefully, this blog has helped you discover something new or helped you decide whether to go unprimed or primed & the paint you use to give your skirting and architrave the life they deserve. Until next time, we will see you in our next blog.

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Lee Watkinson

Digital Marketing Director at Skirting World with 10 years of experience in Home Interiors & Manufacturing.