How do I fit beading or a threshold strip?

This is the last hour of a flooring job and the one that makes it look finished or unfinished. The single technical point — never fix through the floor — is also the one most often got wrong.

Safety

Step by step

1. Understand what the gap is for.Laminate, engineered wood and vinyl all expand and contract with humidity, which is why a floating floor is laid with a gap at every edge. Beading hides it and must not restrict it.
2. Fix beading to the skirting only.Pins or adhesive into the skirting board, never down into the floor. A pin through the floor holds it at that point and it buckles elsewhere. This is the entire rule.
3. Choose scotia or quadrant.Quadrant is a quarter-circle and covers a larger gap; scotia is a concave profile and looks lighter. Either works — quadrant for wider gaps, scotia where it should be discreet.
4. Measure the gap before buying.Typically 10 to 12mm, but check the widest point. Beading that only just covers the gap looks wrong wherever the gap is slightly larger.
5. Mitre the corners.45 degrees, internal and external. Beading is small and light enough that mitred internal corners are acceptable, unlike skirting — a coping saw is not needed at this size.
6. Cut a fraction long.One or two millimetres, so it springs into place tight against the corners. Cut exactly to length and every joint shows a hairline gap.
7. Use pins rather than nails.Panel pins or a pin nailer. Anything heavier splits thin beading. Pilot the ends of hardwood beading.
8. Choose the right threshold type.Flat strips for two floors of the same height, ramped strips for a height difference, and carpet-to-hard-floor strips with a gripper edge. Buying the wrong type is the usual doorway mistake.
9. Set the threshold on the door line.Under the closed door, so neither room sees the other's floor finish. Check the door still clears it before fixing.
10. Fix thresholds into the subfloor, not the flooring.Through the gap between the two floors into the subfloor beneath, so both floors can still move. Many strips have a base track fitted first with the cover clipping on.
11. Seal the perimeter in a bathroom or kitchen.A bead of silicone behind the beading where water could reach the gap. In a wet room the expansion gap is also a water route.
12. Paint or finish before fitting where you can.Far easier on a bench. Touch up the pin holes and the mitres afterwards.

Tips

• Fix to the skirting, never through the floor. Every buckled laminate floor with beading has a pin through it somewhere.
• Buy beading a size up from the gap you measured. It costs the same and it covers the wider points.
• Check the door swings clear before fixing a threshold strip. Trimming a door afterwards is a much bigger job.

Common mistakes

• Pinning beading through the floor — It anchors a floating floor at that point, so expansion is forced elsewhere and the floor lifts or buckles. Always fix into the skirting.
• Using a flat threshold across a height difference — It creates a trip edge and does not sit down properly. Ramped strips exist specifically for this and cost the same.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask