Paint walls before of after skirting is fitted

QuiteConfused

Hi

I have recently had my walls replastered and I'm currently waiting for joiner availability to fit new skirting boards and architrave. I've chosen my colour scheme so am wondering whether to paint my walls 1st and then touch up anything required after the skirting has been fitted or am I better off waiting and having the skirting fitted before I paint the walls?

Thanks in advance

jessex1990

I would paint the walls first - no drips on your lovely new skirting.

tacpot12

Newly plastered walls need priming before painting. You should try to prime before the skirting boards are fitted. Apart from that, it's more a matter of whether the walls are dry enough to prime and paint before the joiner wants to come to fit the skirting boards. Plaster usually needs 3-4 weeks to dry properly. Your plasterer will confirm how long to wait, but you need the plaster to dry before priming. If you have the time to wait, priming and painting before the boards go on will save a bit of time masking the skirting or having to protect the skirting.

TheCyclingProgrammer

It's obviously much easier to paint the walls before the skirting goes on (don't forget to mist coat the walls) as you don't need to cut in at the bottom. This is how I did it when we refurbished our place.

Sambella

Depends whether or not the skirting needs painting also.

It is easier to wipe emulsion off gloss than the other way round.

When painting I always do the woodwork first but everyone is different I guess.

QuiteConfused

Thank you for the quick responses!

The walls have been primed with a must coat by the plasterer. He's told me they are now ready for colour.

The skirting will require painting but I will doing with satinwood rather than gloss so not sure if this means emulsion is still as easy to wipe off as on gloss?

Cats_are_great

Definitely paint the walls first, I am assuming your plasterer use a leytex based paint if they must coated it so quickly....or it was just a skim job. The satinwood can be wiped down, it's not as robust as gloss but so long as you prime it first and apply 2 coats of satinwood (it can be a bit thin without 2 coats and give a patchy finish).

Internal wood can be primed with watered down emulsion as it doesn't have to stand up to any weathering, just make sure the paint is applied evenly. Good luck

lg13mza

Unless your walls are glass smooth you are likely to require a little caulking around the top of the skirting where they meet the walls. This is likely to mean you will need to touch the walls up afterwards anyway. Depending how good your paint is this may be noticeable afterwards.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Caulking the skirting boards where they meet the wall shouldn't require any touchups to the wall if you are careful!

lg13mza

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Caulking the skirting boards where they meet the wall shouldn't require any touchups to the wall if you are careful!

I agree if u r happy with a less than perfect finish. Unfortunately, I'm not.

Niv

I would also add, I painted the skirting boards before they were attached to the wall, as you are using satinwood (good choice imo) it does not cause any issues cutting etc once painted.


You may need to do a little touching up once fitted but it definitely saves a lot of bending and much less chance of getting paint on the wall if your only touching up.