Cork Edging

Purpose

• Hardwood flooring, and laminate flooring with a real wood finish, expands and contracts as the moisture and temperature levels in your home fluctuate. You need to leave an expansion gap between your flooring and your walls to stop the boards rising up and separating when they expand. Inserting cork strips into your expansion gap will hold your flooring in place while giving it the freedom to expand and contract without causing damage.

Prepartion

• Use plastic spacers to create an expansion gap when you lay your floor. These can be bought from hardware stores or online. Consult your flooring's installation instructions to find the manufacturer's recommended expansion gap size. Place your plastic spacers between the boards you lay round the perimeter of the room and your wall. Use at least two spacers for each board you lay.

Installation

• Once you've finished laying your floor, you can remove the plastic spacers from the perimeter of your room and replace them with cork edging. Simply slide the strips into the expansion gap you've created, making sure the whole perimeter of your room is covered. Use a tape measure to calculate how many strips you'll need per stretch of wall and a pair of scissors to cut them to size.

Finish

• Fit a molding or skirting board around the perimeter of your room when your strips are in place. While an expansion gap is necessary if your floor contains real wood, it's not very nice to look at. Make sure any molding you use is thick enough to conceal the expansion gap you've created. Fit moldings and skirting boards to your walls using nails or a silicone adhesive.