Fitting new skirting boards

vegtablepatch

Help required please!
My house has recently been damp proofed and the internal walls plastered.

I now need to fit new skirting boards but I’m not confident about matching the boards at the corners.

What is the best way for a novice to get a good fit at the corners of rooms?

Would the best option be to buy a cheap mitre saw from B & Q or Screwfix?
and would one of these be suitable to cut the required angles (mostly 45 degrees) in skiritng board, width 98mm ?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that may help me to fit ready primed mdf boards to a reasonable standard.
Thanks
Vegie.
　
　

wallbash

Mitre's are easy :rolleyes:
If you have corners at 90 degrees , but I have never owned a house with such a corner .So I struggle with a coping saw and then reach for the filler

Its ok when you are going to slap on some white paint but I dread the day when 'she' wants a stained look.

littlerose12345

We've just put up the skirting boards in one of the bedrooms! We ended up buying a compound mitre saw to cut all the boards.. but as mentioned, no walls are perfectly angled! We did some of the internal corners at 45 degree mitred, and some using the coping saw technique.. both left about the same amount of gap which required filling.

We stuck them down with No More Nails.. and fashioned some wooden blocks with the ends covered in old fabric and pushed these up against some wooden blocks nailed into the floor boards.. and left them there for a few days!

Using filler is a godsend, finishes off the look nicely.

Now all we need to do is paint them!

littlerose12345

PS I read somewhere that if you have had the walls damp proofed.. you shouldn't use nails as that would damage the DPC?

vegtablepatch

Thank you so much Andrew, Wallbash and littlerose.
I understand a lot more now of what to and what not to do.
A neighbour has loaned me a mitre block and shown me how to use it.
I now feel fairly confident and hope to have some good results for when Mr Vegie returns home from work at the weekend.
Your advice has really helped me a lot.
Thank you.
Vegie

wallbash

Also i'd use a flexible filler (or decorators caulk) along the join between wall and skirting which is prone to cracking with expansion and contraction with temperature changes.

Run bead along gap.
Wipe along gap with wet sponge

This tip will make any skirting board look wonderful

loracan1

For the inside corners it's actually easier and far neater to scribe the profile. I wasn't convinced of this till I tried it myself, but it works. Best off cutting the shape before cutting the length to fit though.

littlerose12345

Hi everyone!

Luckily our skirting boards didn't fall off the walls and were able to paint them over the weekend! For some reason i do not get on with undercoat but managed to do the gloss part but it was hard work!

The Filler was a god send, and once painted hides any mitre-ing imperfections! I think the scribing method gives a nicer finish, even it if does take a little longer

DVardysShadow

Just quickly, as I have to go.

Mitred joints for external corners, scribed joints for internal corners.

lagi

I haven't ever done this but just say i had a perfectly square corner then it would be ok to go for a mitre instead of the scribing???

KeithP

lagi wrote: »

I haven't ever done this but just say i had a perfectly square corner then it would be ok to go for a mitre instead of the scribing???

Of couse its ok Lagi. Its your wall. No skirting is also ok. :beer:
Its just that the scribing method will cope better with slightly out corners.