When rooms are newly renovated and skirting boards are used, as a rule, there is also waste. No wonder, because it is rare to find rooms without angles or chimney projections. In addition, when laying the baseboards, you should pay attention to some special features, such as floor-to-ceiling windows, irregularities in the course of the wall or other things. Heating pipes, which still lie on the wall, also fall into this area, although they can be concealed by special pipe cover strips.
Furthermore, there are doors or at least room entrances in all rooms, and waste also occurs here. So in every room there are quite often many different wall interruptions, which must be included in the calculation of the waste of baseboards.
It should be noted that most skirting boards are offered with a length of 2.50 meters. Due to the interruptions of doors, protrusions and the like, baseboards must be cut into smaller lengths. In this case, the waste now accumulates, because often the small remnants can no longer be recycled. No wonder, because who wants to press them together on straight walls? Experts also strongly advise against this, because it not only disturbs the room image, because cut edges are noticeable and definitely to one. Also, when laying internal and external corners, you can count on waste.
How to calculate the waste of baseboards?
The first step is to calculate the number of running meters of baseboard. This should urgently take into account any door reveals of room doors, balcony doors, as well as other interruptions in the wall. If it is a simple square room, it is necessary to add up 2x the length plus 2x the width of the room, subtracting the doorway .
If it is a winding room, or even if there are fireplace shafts, additional doors or chimney shafts, it is worth measuring for the exact need.
Good to know: As an average value one calculates with a wear of 10 per cent. This means that the bottom line is that 10 percent of the calculated amount of linear meters should be planned for waste. For square rooms, it is sufficient to allow for less wear. At the same time, it never hurts to have a baseboard in reserve rather than having to reorder some or leave in the middle of a job. Finally, if there is a foot of power left over, it can be returned.
A math example: For example, if you have a room that is 6 meters long, 4 meters wide, and has a doorway of 80 cm, you will need at least 19.2 linear meters of baseboard. If you include an offcut of 10 percent, the result is 21.12 linear meters.
Keeping the waste small - this is how it works
Unfortunately, there is hardly any way to save on waste when using baseboards. Above all, you don't usually want to cut up leftover pieces. So if you try to save on skirting boards, sooner or later you will end up with so-called pieces on the walls, which will definitely spoil the look. So if you want a neat and beautiful overall picture, you should do without piecemeal.
How many baseboards should you buy?
Once you have calculated how many linear meters of baseboards are needed, it is now necessary to determine the exact amount. Baseboards are usually offered in a length of 2.50 meters, but it should be noted that there is a certain length tolerance . The actual length can therefore also be 2.49 meters or 2.51 meters. According to DIN, there is no defect in these cases. The differences come about because of the different saw blade thicknesses, and the length from the source material can also be to blame.
Another example:
If the skirting length is 2.50 meters and the room length is 6 meters, you need 3 skirtings for each side of the length. Two strips would therefore cover 5 meters of the room wall. 3 strips, on the other hand, cover 7.50 meters. With two single length sides, this corresponds to 6 battens. If the width of the room is 4 meters, it is recommended to use 2 strips for each side. This means that 10 strips are needed for the room in question. Depending on where the door is located in the room, another skirting board must be planned, which means that 11 skirting boards should be purchased.
Our conclusion on the subject of skirting wear calculate
If baseboards are used in the renovation work, they should always be purchased so that the amount of running meters fit the room. To calculate the need in advance is more difficult than it is in the end. If you calculate more and include wall interruptions, you will not end up with too few baseboards, nor will you have to piece them together in the worst case. For this reason, it always makes more sense to plan for 10 percent more, because if a skirting board is left over, it can also be returned if necessary.