A hybrid wood floor changes the height of a room by a few millimetres, and a few millimetres is enough to make a door scrape, a skirting line sit wrong and a transition look improvised. None of that is a flooring problem in isolation. It is a measurement problem that becomes visible on the day the planks go down.
This guide is for homeowners and designers checking door clearance and skirting lines before delivery. It sets out what to measure, what to write down and why the numbers belong in a record rather than in a conversation. It is editorial guidance only: not an installation instruction, not a trimming instruction, not a clearance tolerance or a skirting specification, and no substitute for the product documents and installation guidance for the exact product.
Start from the build-up, not from the plank
The published thickness of a hybrid plank is one part of the finished height, not the whole of it. The SuperOak Elite Coastal Sand Oak listing publishes 9 x 60 inch planks at 10 mm total thickness. What that 10 mm consists of, and whether any layer is intended to sit against the subfloor, is a question for the product documents rather than for a face photograph of the plank.
Write the build-up as a sum in the record: plank, plus anything specified beneath it, plus the existing surface if it stays. A record that says "10 mm floor" and nothing else will be read as the finished height by everyone who opens it, and it will be wrong by whatever the other components add.
Measure the gap, then measure it again at the latch side
The clearance that matters is the smallest one in the swing, and the smallest one is rarely at the middle of the door. Floors slope, frames settle and leaves warp. Measure the gap with the door in three positions: closed, half open and fully open, and record the smallest figure for each opening.
Do this before the old floor comes up if the new build-up is taller, because the current gap is the only direct evidence of what the existing arrangement tolerates. Once the old floor is gone, that baseline is gone with it.
Note what happens at the hinge side
A door that clears in the middle can still catch at the hinge side, where the floor often rises and where a rug or a threshold strip may later be added. Add a line for the hinge side even when the reading looks comfortable, since comfort at one point in a swing is not evidence about the rest of it.
Decide the skirting line before the floor arrives
Skirting is where the floor meets the wall, and there are three common arrangements: skirting removed and refitted over the new floor, skirting kept with a bead or cover profile added, or skirting kept and the floor run to it with the expansion allowance taken up elsewhere. Each has consequences for the visible line and for how much material is needed.
The table below is a workable shape for recording the decision per room, so a mixed house stays coherent.
| Record | Why it belongs in writing | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Existing floor thickness | It is the baseline the new build-up replaces | Comparing against the wrong starting height |
| Published plank thickness | It is a stated fact, not an estimate | Guessing the finished level from memory |
| Anything beneath the plank | It adds to the finished height | A total that is short by a layer |
| Smallest door gap per opening | It is the binding constraint in the swing | A scrape found after installation |
| Skirting decision per room | Mixed houses need stated differences | Two contradictory conventions in one home |
| Trim and bead quantities | They are ordered in linear length | A shortfall discovered at the last wall |
Keep the door decision separate from the floor decision
If a door needs trimming, record it as its own entry with a date and a reason. The floor decision is about the build-up; the door decision is about the door. Keeping them apart means that if the build-up later changes, the record still shows what the door was trimmed against, and the change can be assessed rather than argued about.
Where trimming is done by someone else, note who, and on what date. A door is a piece of the building that is easy to alter and hard to restore, and the note is often the only trace of who altered it.
Walk the house once with the finished plan
Before delivery, walk the property with the record in hand and check that every opening in the plan has an entry. The value of the list is coverage: an opening that was never measured will be discovered by the person installing the floor, at the moment when the least time is available to solve it.
Confirm the current clearance guidance and skirting options with the supplier before the order is fixed, since published build-ups and recommended details are revised on their own schedules. The record does not replace that guidance. It makes the numbers findable, which is what turns a delivery-day surprise into a decision taken weeks earlier.
Frequently asked questions
How much clearance under a door should I plan for?
Enough that the leaf does not touch the finished floor through its whole swing, and the only honest way to know that is to measure the gap and compare it with the build-up the product documents describe. Write both numbers down. A gap judged by eye at the top of the swing can still foul at the latch side, where the floor is rarely level.
The existing floor is being removed. Does that change the calculation?
It usually does, and in the helpful direction, but it has to be confirmed rather than assumed. Removing a floor lowers the starting surface, so the new build-up may sit closer to the original level than a like-for-like comparison suggests. Record the existing floor thickness and what will be removed, then calculate from the bare surface.
Can skirting be kept and the floor run up to it?
That depends on the expansion allowance the product guidance requires and on whether the skirting can accept a bead or cover profile. Both are decisions to record per room, because a house where one room keeps its skirting and another removes it needs that difference stated, not discovered by the person fitting the second room.
What if a door needs trimming?
Treat it as a separate recorded decision with its own date, because trimming a door is a change to the door rather than to the floor. Note which door, how much was removed, and who did it. If it later turns out the floor build-up changed, the note shows what the door was trimmed against.
