Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Thanks to anyone who replies.

I've taken the old skirting board off which is approx 5cm high and want
to replace it with 10cm stuff.

The old board was held on via nails into the usual wooden plugs wedged
into vertical mortar gaps at regular intervals. There is no plaster
behind the boards so currently a gap of about 4cm between floorboards
and current plaster.

My queries are

1) Whats the best way of attaching new stuff. Wooden plugs or mini
battens as before, or plaster most of the gap and use no more nails
type stuff, or a combination of the 2?

2) Should I be plastering most of the gap, mainly so I can use adhesive
rather than plugs, leaving a space between floorboards and new plaster.
I've seen some people mention that this may cause moisture to leach up
the wall. Not sure how since its above damproof and its dry as a bone
under the floor but I don't want to cause later problems. Can't really
use adhesive unless I do this.

3) Corners- Do you guys mitre corners internal and external. Again I've
seen suggestions to use straight ends butted together to form the
corners rather than trying to mitre each end?

4) Assuming some sort of fixing, nails or screws. Screws feel more
secure but would be more of a nightmare when or if I have to replace
the boards again, hope not.

5) Last but not least, I want to fit a laminate floor, should this go
under boards for a cleaner edge,no beading strip needed. However it
would be a nightmare to lift the floor later if needed so would it be
better to floor up to but not under new boards? BTW the gap under the
floor is v v tight so getting under it is pretty difficult. Maybe I've
answered my own question here :-)

Graham

wrote:
Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Have you serached this very group using Google Groups? There's lots to
be found.

Thanks to anyone who replies.

I've taken the old skirting board off which is approx 5cm high and want
to replace it with 10cm stuff.

Gosh - tiny. Really 5cm?

snip

1) Whats the best way of attaching new stuff. Wooden plugs or mini
battens as before, or plaster most of the gap and use no more nails
type stuff, or a combination of the 2?

'No more nails' if it's flatish and you're a pragmatist. Screws into
rawl plugs, let into the sorface of the boards, covered with wooden
caps if you're a perfectionist.

Once they are on there WILL bea gap between the top and the wall.
Fill this with decorators caulk and paint to match the boards. You'd
be surprised how big a gap you can get away with filling. And line
everything up by eye so it looks right. Forget the spirit level for
this job.

2) Should I be plastering most of the gap,

Err wouldn't have thought so - that's why we have skirting isn't it?
To cover the gap left by the tricky bottom few cm that are difficult to
plaster?

3) Corners- Do you guys mitre corners internal and external. Again I've
seen suggestions to use straight ends butted together to form the
corners rather than trying to mitre each end?

What is the cross section of the skirting? Anything other than
rectangular section will look gash in extremis if butt joined.
Otherwise it's up to you. Either way the majority of your corners will
range from 87 deg to 93deg. Very few if any will be exactly 90o. In
this case decorators caulk is your friend.

4) Assuming some sort of fixing, nails or screws. Screws feel more
secure but would be more of a nightmare when or if I have to replace
the boards again, hope not.

This is often cited as a reason for using screws... you simply undo
them, as opposed to pulling the skirting off with a crow bar and
wrecking the plaster. I personally think it's a false economy. The
next time I need to replace skirting I'll happily rip it off the wall
with a crow bar and patch up the holes for the time it will save.

Personally I found screws a pain. You have to drill the board in
place, marking the wall exactly. Enlarge the wall hole with a masonry
bit. Plug the hole. Rebate the skirting hole to fit the screwhead.
Screw the board to the wall. Fill the hole.

As opposed to: Squeeze glue onto skirting. Stick skirting to wall.
Fill gap with caulk.

5) Last but not least, I want to fit a laminate floor, should this go
under boards for a cleaner edge,no beading strip needed. snip

No experience of laminate I'm afraid. From memory of friends houses
the skirting is already on the wall when the laminate is laid. There
is a sort of beading strip around the edge. I have heard of some
laminates needing replacement after just a few years and if that meant
ripping off the skirting as well that could be upsetting I imagine.

Hope that's of some help

--
Steve F

M8 like the guy says 10cm,Get yourself a good 7" torus (about
£1.70/metre)skirting. You need to scribe the internal joints,and mitre the
external joints.Then when you lay your floor the skirting will sit on top
and should be thick enough to cover the 10mm gap all the way round.and also
should give you enough wall at the top of the skirting to use no nails.
Hope this helps
Scezy"Fitz" wrote in message
ups.com...

wrote:
Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Have you serached this very group using Google Groups? There's lots to
be found.

Thanks to anyone who replies.

I've taken the old skirting board off which is approx 5cm high and want
to replace it with 10cm stuff.

Gosh - tiny. Really 5cm?

snip

1) Whats the best way of attaching new stuff. Wooden plugs or mini
battens as before, or plaster most of the gap and use no more nails
type stuff, or a combination of the 2?

'No more nails' if it's flatish and you're a pragmatist. Screws into
rawl plugs, let into the sorface of the boards, covered with wooden
caps if you're a perfectionist.

Once they are on there WILL bea gap between the top and the wall.
Fill this with decorators caulk and paint to match the boards. You'd
be surprised how big a gap you can get away with filling. And line
everything up by eye so it looks right. Forget the spirit level for
this job.

2) Should I be plastering most of the gap,

Err wouldn't have thought so - that's why we have skirting isn't it?
To cover the gap left by the tricky bottom few cm that are difficult to
plaster?

3) Corners- Do you guys mitre corners internal and external. Again I've
seen suggestions to use straight ends butted together to form the
corners rather than trying to mitre each end?

What is the cross section of the skirting? Anything other than
rectangular section will look gash in extremis if butt joined.
Otherwise it's up to you. Either way the majority of your corners will
range from 87 deg to 93deg. Very few if any will be exactly 90o. In
this case decorators caulk is your friend.

4) Assuming some sort of fixing, nails or screws. Screws feel more
secure but would be more of a nightmare when or if I have to replace
the boards again, hope not.

This is often cited as a reason for using screws... you simply undo
them, as opposed to pulling the skirting off with a crow bar and
wrecking the plaster. I personally think it's a false economy. The
next time I need to replace skirting I'll happily rip it off the wall
with a crow bar and patch up the holes for the time it will save.

Personally I found screws a pain. You have to drill the board in
place, marking the wall exactly. Enlarge the wall hole with a masonry
bit. Plug the hole. Rebate the skirting hole to fit the screwhead.
Screw the board to the wall. Fill the hole.

As opposed to: Squeeze glue onto skirting. Stick skirting to wall.
Fill gap with caulk.

5) Last but not least, I want to fit a laminate floor, should this go
under boards for a cleaner edge,no beading strip needed. snip

No experience of laminate I'm afraid. From memory of friends houses
the skirting is already on the wall when the laminate is laid. There
is a sort of beading strip around the edge. I have heard of some
laminates needing replacement after just a few years and if that meant
ripping off the skirting as well that could be upsetting I imagine.

Hope that's of some help

--
Steve F

On 20 Oct 2005 01:51:55 -0700, wrote:

Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Thanks to anyone who replies.


I've done this for the whole bottom floor recently. Tips:

1. Be careful when you buy the new skirting to make sure it's not too
warped. Get some spare stuff.
2. Buy/borrow a proper adjustable mitre saw for cutting corners. Make
sure the blade isn't bent.
3. Glue the new bits on with No More Nails. Much quicker and copes
with all kinds of holes behind.
4. Use caulk/flexible filler to fill the gaps.
5. Paint them before they go on (if you're painting them). You might
have to paint again once they're on.
6. Put the laminate floor down later and quarter round beading. The
skirtings are likely to last longer than the floor.

and of course the usual measure twice. cut once sorta thing.

C

Cheers everyone

"Have you serached this very group using Google Groups? There's lots
to
be found."

Yup did just that and as usual differing/clashing opinions, but
everyone in this thread agrees! So thanks again

On 20 Oct 2005 01:51:55 -0700, wrote:

Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Thanks to anyone who replies.

I've taken the old skirting board off which is approx 5cm high and want
to replace it with 10cm stuff.

The old board was held on via nails into the usual wooden plugs wedged
into vertical mortar gaps at regular intervals. There is no plaster
behind the boards so currently a gap of about 4cm between floorboards
and current plaster.

My queries are

1) Whats the best way of attaching new stuff. Wooden plugs or mini
battens as before, or plaster most of the gap and use no more nails
type stuff, or a combination of the 2?

2) Should I be plastering most of the gap, mainly so I can use adhesive
rather than plugs, leaving a space between floorboards and new plaster.
I've seen some people mention that this may cause moisture to leach up
the wall. Not sure how since its above damproof and its dry as a bone
under the floor but I don't want to cause later problems. Can't really
use adhesive unless I do this.

3) Corners- Do you guys mitre corners internal and external. Again I've
seen suggestions to use straight ends butted together to form the
corners rather than trying to mitre each end?

4) Assuming some sort of fixing, nails or screws. Screws feel more
secure but would be more of a nightmare when or if I have to replace
the boards again, hope not.

5) Last but not least, I want to fit a laminate floor, should this go
under boards for a cleaner edge,no beading strip needed. However it
would be a nightmare to lift the floor later if needed so would it be
better to floor up to but not under new boards? BTW the gap under the
floor is v v tight so getting under it is pretty difficult. Maybe I've
answered my own question here :-)

Graham

As you are using 10cm skirting I take it this is an old house ..Is it
plain skirting with a seperate moulding atop.??...If so then I would
fix battens to the wall vertically and fit the skirting to them and
then fit the moulding on the top . If it is a complete skirting with
a moulded upper edge then you will want it flush to the wall so you
might be better making the wall good and then fixing the skirting to
it with countersunk screws .

Inner corners can be butt jointed if the skirting is plain but if it
is a shaped skirting this will not work so you either need to mitre it
or scribe the corners ..Outer corners will need to be mitred either
with plain skirting ( as end grain will show) or with moulded skirting
..

As for the laminate floor then I think opinion suggests laying it with
the skirting off and doing away with the neeed for any beading is best
..

Stuart .





--

Shift THELEVER to reply.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Charlie wrote:

On 20 Oct 2005 01:51:55 -0700, wrote:

Hi I've had a scan on t'internet for tips on replacing skirting board
and wondered if you guys would give me your twopeneth

Thanks to anyone who replies.


I've done this for the whole bottom floor recently. Tips:

1. Be careful when you buy the new skirting to make sure it's not too
warped. Get some spare stuff.
2. Buy/borrow a proper adjustable mitre saw for cutting corners. Make
sure the blade isn't bent.
3. Glue the new bits on with No More Nails. Much quicker and copes
with all kinds of holes behind.
4. Use caulk/flexible filler to fill the gaps.
5. Paint them before they go on (if you're painting them). You might
have to paint again once they're on.
6. Put the laminate floor down later and quarter round beading. The
skirtings are likely to last longer than the floor.

and of course the usual measure twice. cut once sorta thing.

C

I agree with most of that - but *not* #6.

I think that beading used to cover an expansion gap looks exceedingly naff -
and makes it obvious that the flooring is a retro-fit job. I *always*
advocate removing the skirting. Since it is *already* off, it would be an
extremely bad move to fit new skirting *before* doing the floor.

I would use Gripfill rather than No More Nails, but the effect is similar.
If the walls are not quite flat, you may have to use the odd screw - or use
a long bit of timber braced against the opposite wall to hold the skirting
on until the glue sets.

I always mitre both internal and external corners despite some people's
preference for scribing the internal ones. It's slightly tricky cutting a
mitre on both ends of the same bit of wood, and getting the length exactly
right - but it comes with practice.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
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