Why do houses have skirting boards?
Skirting boards are essential as when the walls are wet-plastered for covering the junction of floor and wall, for this purpose as there is difficulty in achieving a neat stop edge to the plaster at the bottom of the wall . So skirting boards are a must in a house.
Several reasons: It’s to cover the gap between the floors and the walls. So, floors are made of wood, so expand and contract with heat. If the walls were butted against them, they would be damaged when the floors expanded; and a gap when it contracted. They enable easier access and routes for cables and power points. You can get to thing by removing the boards, rather than damaging plasterwork and the finishing over that. They are decorative, in the same way as you put a frame around a picture. It also covers up the un-even plasterwork at the ‘ends’ of a wall, which is difficult to manage. Just like we use coving at the top of a wall at times. Although this isn’t as necessary, as floors move more than ceilings, cos we walk on floors, and bounce heavy objects on them.
