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Skirting board buying guide: height, profile, length

Updated: 21 October 2026

You are in a UK room with a tape measure, and amazon.co.uk is offering a 60 cm pine length beside a foam roll. This skirting board buying guide sets the order: measure the board on the wall, decide whether you need a rigid board or a cover, then buy a length that matches the run. Height is not set by building regulations. Supplier tables disagree by tens of millimetres, so the wall is the measurement. Prices and stars sit in the [skirting board comparison](/hub/flooring/skirting-board). Compiled on 19 October 2026. Nothing here is a laboratory test.

You are in a UK room with a tape measure, and amazon.co.uk is offering a 60 cm pine length beside a foam roll.

Our top picks

Austin Commerce Austin Commerce bullnose pine 60 cm

Best overall

Austin Commerce Austin Commerce bullnose pine 60 cm
7.1/10about £10.99
View offer
TranRantic TranRantic flexible PVC 8 m

Best value

TranRantic TranRantic flexible PVC 8 m
7.3/10about £13.99
View offer
Gaahing Gaahing paintable NBR trim 3 m

Rank 3

Gaahing Gaahing paintable NBR trim 3 m
8.6/10about £17.90
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Measure before you trust a height chart
  2. 2.Profile is the shape, not the adjective
  3. 3.Metres, waste, and what this Amazon set actually is
  4. 4.When moisture changes the material

Measure before you trust a height chart

CE Skirting’s buying guide puts 94–119 mm on modern replacements, 144–169 mm as an all-round band, and 194–219 mm on taller rooms. BuildWiz, updated 15 October 2026, treats about 145 mm as a common default. Another supplier’s ceiling table will not land on the same millimetre. SkirtingBoards.com stocks MDF from 44 mm to 219 mm. None of those figures is a British Standard. Measure from the finished floor to the top of the mould, and write down height and thickness. A side-on photo shows the shape. The only rigid boards here are the Austin Commerce lengths at 14.5 × 94 mm. That looks short under a board of about 170 mm. A 2.4 m ceiling does not choose 119 mm or 145 mm. If you cannot remove the old board, read the peel and stick skirting board page. A cover hides a scuff. It does not become 18 mm timber because the title says skirting.

Profile is the shape, not the adjective

Torus is a rounded top. Ogee is the S-shaped mould common in older houses and on merchant boards that can be flipped. Bullnose is a simple rounded top, which is what the Austin title states, even though the specification shape line says Round. Chamfer is a flat bevel. Match the profile to the age of the house and to the architrave, then set the height from the board you measured. A new style on one repaired wall makes that wall look finished and the rest of the room look patched. CE Skirting talks about 15 mm, 18 mm, and 25 mm boards. The Austin bullets give 14.5 mm as the profile depth. A 2 mm vinyl cover is not that thickness, and the 0.25 mm line on the 60 cm pine is the gel-coat primer, not the timber.
Austin Commerce Austin Commerce bullnose pine 60 cm

Testsieger

Austin Commerce Austin Commerce bullnose pine 60 cm
7.1/10about £10.99
View offer

Metres, waste, and what this Amazon set actually is

A fitter’s rule of thumb is about 10 percent extra for cuts, and more when the pieces are short. That is not a standard. Add the runs you are boarding, then the waste, before you compare prices per metre. Merchant full lengths in the BuildWiz Wickes snapshot of 15 October 2026 were about £4.48–£7.14 per metre. The Austin 60 cm board is about £10.99, about £18 a metre, and the 115 cm board is about £16.99, about £15 a metre. Those prices can make sense for a short repair. They do not make sense for a 14 m hallway. The rest of this set is covers from about £8.99 to about £23.99, 3 m to 8 m long and about 20–100 mm high. An imperial title, such as 4 inch by 16.4 ft, still needs a millimetre check.

When moisture changes the material

A primed board for a dry painted room is a different purchase from a bathroom. Moisture-resistant MDF to BS EN 622-5 is Use Class 2. Staircraft’s data sheet says not to fix it to damp plaster, and Skirting 4 U is plain that moisture resistant is not waterproof. Cut ends still need sealing. Standing water wants rigid uPVC or tile, not a foam roll with a bathroom word in the bullet. Neither Austin listing states a wet-area grade. A soft cover that names a bathroom is not the grade MEDITE prints for MR board. Once the board is rigid, the how to fit skirting boards page is the next step: before carpet, and after laminate, fixed to the wall.

Common questions

What height should I buy for a standard UK ceiling?
No building regulation sets it. Use the chart only when there is no board to copy, and measure height and thickness in the house.
How do I match the skirting already on the wall?
Photograph the profile from the side and match the architrave as well as the board. The Austin lengths are 14.5 × 94 mm bullnose and will not reproduce a 170 mm ogee.
Is 15 mm or 18 mm the thickness that matters?
On a rigid board it is the depth, often 15 mm, 18 mm, or 25 mm. The Austin bullets state 14.5 mm. Do not read the 0.25 mm gel-coat line, or a 2 mm vinyl cover, as that depth.
What is the difference between torus, ogee, and bullnose?
Torus is a rounded top, ogee an S-curve, bullnose a plain rounded nose, and chamfer a bevel. The Austin shape line says Round against a bullnose title. Follow the doors, not a new style for one wall.
How many metres should I order, including waste?
Add the wall runs you are boarding. A fitter’s rule of thumb is about 10 percent for cuts, and more when the only lengths are 60 cm or 115 cm. That figure is not a standard. A 14 m hall is a merchant-length job, not two Amazon pine offcuts.
Can I use a peel-and-stick roll for the same job as a 4 m board?
No. A 4 m board is sawn, scribed, and fixed to the wall. The rolls here are 3–8 m covers, about 20–100 mm high, stuck to a sound surface. They can hide a scuff. They do not give you an 18 mm profile.

Related pages

Best skirting board

MDF or pine skirting

Skirting board

How to fit skirting boards before or after the floor

Peel and stick skirting board: a cover, not timber

Sources

Public UK sources and amazon.co.uk listings, checked on 19 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the figures in the display file. The Wickes per-metre band is a 15 October 2026 snapshot, not one of these amazon.co.uk shelf prices.

  1. SkirtingBoards.com, MDF skirting ranges (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. CE Skirting, skirting buying guide (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. BuildWiz, skirting board profiles and a Wickes price snapshot (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. Staircraft, skirting boards technical data sheet (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. MEDITE MR datasheet (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. Skirting 4 U, bathroom skirting boards (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. Wickes, how to fit skirting (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. Quick-Step, laminate installation instructions (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  9. SELECT, installation of cables and BS 7671 Regulation 522.6.204 (retrieved 19 October 2026)