removing/replacing skirting boards? 18 July 2009 at 12:01AM in In My Home (includes DIY) MoneySaving 12 replies 94.2K views

Minky2Slice

Hi, i am hoping someone can give me some advice as in new to DIY

I am planning on painting my bedroom tomorrow.
The current skirting boards are brown wood and quite ugly and i want them to be white. dont plan on replacing the carpets in the next year or so, so i was thinking or replacing the skirting boards with white ones.

How easy is it to take the old ones off and put new ones on?
I'm hoping no plaster comes off when i pull them off. and how do you secure the new ones on the walls? the current ones must've been glued on because I cant see any screws?

does anybody know if this is an easy task or if it's best to get someone to do them for me?

loracan1

You could just paint them? Sand down, undercoat/prime first...sand down when dried and paint over.

Biggles

Minky2Slice wrote: »

I am planning on painting my bedroom tomorrow.
The current skirting boards are brown wood and quite ugly and i want them to be white. dont plan on replacing the carpets in the next year or so, so i was thinking or replacing the skirting boards with white ones.

Wood only comes in one colour: wood. Most are painted, white does tend to be the commonest colour; maybe yours were even painted white before someone chose to go over them in brown. A quick sanding, an undercoat and Bob's your uncle.

diable

Getting old skirting boards off is a sod of a job, as advised sand down and paint the ones you already have.

olias

Ifd you are adamant about replacing them then I would advise:

They may be screwed or nailed (nails/screws may have been countersunk and filled).

Make sure you score along the top where they join the wall before prising off, otherwise you will pull of plaster.

Replace with slightly wider skirting, this will have the benefit of covering over the ragged line wher the previous skirting reached.

Use decorators caulk to fill in any gaps at the top of the skirting due to uneven walls etc

Invest in a coping saw for internal corners (google for how to do them), and a decent tenon or mitre saw for the external corners.

Watch out for your carpets when you repaint (I find it better to paint before applying the skirting, then you will just need a bit of touching up once they are applied.

Olias

ailuro2

Not a job for the beginner, and definitely not if your walls are anywhere less than straight.

Good sanding down, primer then decent 'silk' finish gloss paint.(Silk is more forgiving on poor surfaces.;)

27col

I cannot help thinking that DIY would be a lot more difficult than it is if we all replaced wood items that were a colour that we did not like. I would love to know the logic of your reasoning for that one.
Skirting boards can sometimes be a right s*d to remove, and the chances of doing it without damage to both the board and adjacent plaster are fairly remote. It is not a particularly difficult job to do. But, I would have thought, completely unnecessary, unless badly damaged in some way. Most likely a good sanding down will suffice. If not, then the application of a heat gun will remove the offending paint. One of the main secrets of DIY is to keep it simple.

sillywilly

It isn't that hard to take them off - just requires either a wrecking bar or a hammer and chisel to get behind them. The plaster around them will deifinitely get damaged but this can be filled and if you get slightly taller skirting then it will also hide the damage.

You can get MDF ready primed skirting which is a hell of a lot easier to work with and a lot less hassle than priming wood.

Also hardly any walls are true so there will be some filling / caulking at the end. Fitting them is easy with some Gripfill and masonary nails.

However cutting them and mitreing them is not so easy.

HTH

Minky2Slice

thanks for the sugggestions, i would like to replace them, as most of it looks like it has come away from the walls already and the wood isnt in such a good condition anymore, plus some of it has been damaged (by previous owners i think)
have painted the room yesterday, so will wait till we get the carpets replaced and then replace the skirting at the same time :-)

ormus

as been said, its not a hard job to replace skirting. can be a bit fiddly to get it filled correctly with some walls/rooms, ready for painting.
the good news is that skirting is fairly cheap stuff.

dld2s

Minky2Slice wrote: »

thanks for the sugggestions, i would like to replace them, as most of it looks like it has come away from the walls already and the wood isnt in such a good condition anymore, plus some of it has been damaged (by previous owners i think)
have painted the room yesterday, so will wait till we get the carpets replaced and then replace the skirting at the same time :-)

I am guessing you will take off skirting before replacing carpet, in fact I would taake of skirting now before you even buy your carpet, gives you more time to fix any damage