Plinth blocks: yay or nay?

[Crofter]

Until five minutes ago when I googled it, I didn't even know that the little rectangular blocks of wood sometimes placed at the intersection of architrave and skirting had a name- turns out these are 'plinth blocks' or, if decorated with some sort of detailing, 'rosettes'.

I'm planning a fairly contemporary finish and going to use primed MDF which will be finished in a gloss white (to give a slight contrast to the matte white walls). I *think* I prefer the look of plinth blocks, but I know you can go ahead without them.

I also wonder if using them makes fitting the arc/skirt a tiny bit easier?

[Declan52]

Only ever seen the blocks that had circles and flowers in them and thought they looked more suited to an old house.

[Temp]

Our builder recommended them. We have ogee profile architrave and skirting and it did look better with the little blocks. Ours aren't quite plain rectangular blocks, the builder had our carpenter plane a bevel on them. No fancy detail. I can try and post a photo later when I get home.

[Russell griffiths]

I fitted them in our first house, it did make it stand out as better detailed than everyone else in the street. 

 

Cut ours out of. 25mm mdf with a chamfer on the side. 

Think I used a piece of window board instead of. Buying an 8x4. 

[Crofter]

Interesting that there doesn't seem to be a consensus on this.

I'll be using some 18mm MDF somewhere else so will tot up the numbers and hopefully the offcuts from that sheet will do the job. Will only stand slightly proud of the 14mm skirting but sounds good enough to me.

[Amanda]

The plinth block at the bottom of the architrave is there to give ornate moulded skirtings and architraves a neat junction point and the floor finish something simple to run in to. Now days with our tighter budgets as long as an architrave is thicker than the skirting the skirting usually butts into the side of it, looks ok if the architrave is a simple profile. If you want a sleeker contemporary look then making skirtings flush with plaster and ditching the architraves gives a neat finish but it requires really careful detailing to avoid plaster cracking and builders won’t always thank you for it.

[Stones]

If fitting simple profiled facings and skirtings, I wouldn't bother, as per picture below ( facings will need to have greater depth than skirtings).

 

 

If going for an ornate  / ogee type profile fit them to make the transition easier and neater.

[Jeremy Harris]

You can also use plinth blocks to avoid having to cut mitred joints in, or around, corners.  I did think about it, as I used 20mm thick oak skirting boards, and could get 25mm square plinth bocks, with a chamfer on two edges.  In the end I decided to force myself to have several days extra work in cutting neat mitres in, or around, every corner................