So you’ve installed your flooring? Fantastic! Time to add the finishing touch – the scotia bead.
Perfect for covering the vital expansion gap left after installation, scotia beads add a professional touch to your flooring for an aesthetically pleasing look.
Here at Tile Mountain, we want to make sure that your flooring is beautiful and functional, so we’ve made a handy guide on how to install scotia beads.
What are scotia beads?
Scotia beads are most commonly used for covering the expansion gap around the outside gaps of your flooring.
Expansion gaps can range in size – they can go from 2mm right up to 20-25mm wide, depending on what type of flooring you’re using and the size of the area that’s being covered.
White is the most common colour to use and they’re made with a veneered, primed material that can be painted over.
However, you can purchase one to match and blend in with your floor pattern a little bit better.
From left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4
Step 1: Cutting the beads
For corner pieces
Cut the two beads at a 45-degree angle so that they fit together tightly in the corner, standing upright.
For a continuous run
Similarly to the corner piece, the beads will need to be cut at a 45-degree angle, however, the beads will need to be cut at an angle, rather than standing straight like the corner pieces.
Step 2: Laying them out
Most of the time, scotia beads come at 2.4m in length.
If your walls are longer than this, then you’re going to have to butt them up together and a scarf joint is the best way to do this.
It is always wise to place each piece that you cut in position as a dry run to double-check that all of the joints match up and nothing needs to be recut or tweaked.
Step 3: Securing them down
If you’re happy with this then you can start to glue and fit the beads into position.
Whether you’re covering the expansion gap on engineered wood, laminate or LVT, the scotia bead always needs to be fixed to the skirting board and not the floor.
This is so that the floating floor can move, as it may expand and contract in different temperatures.
Above, Grande Golden Brown Oak Engineered Flooring
Here at Tile Mountain, we have a range of accessories to help you complete your DIY project! We’d love to see your self-installed floors – show them off on Instagram and tag us @tilemountainuk.
