Baseboard

A baseboard or skirting board is a wooden board, normally 75mm to 300mm deep, covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the join between the wall surface (usually plaster) and the floor, and to protect the wall from kicks and abrasion.

At its simplest, skirting board consists of a simple plank nailed, screwed or glued to the wall; however particularly in older houses it can be made up of a number of mouldings to provide an elaborate decorative feature. Even today, it is quite common to have a quarter round mould between the baseboard and floor.