Skirting boards fixed under the plaster

pieroabcd

HI, in my house I've found nearly all skirting boards fixed to the wall under the plaster skim (rathyer than on top of it), basically the worked as a base for the overstanding skim.
Also, they were fixed with huge nails and in some cases even with plastic plugs in the wall, as if to bear the weight of a cabinet!

Of course I've removed them, plastered everything, repainted and added back new skirting boards.

To me they looked totally insane, but there must have been a reason when they were installed.
Was there? or maybe the installer used outdated habits?

grumbler

pieroabcd said:

To me they looked totally insane, but there must have been a reason when they were installed.
Was there?

Good luck with finding a reason behind endless insane things in UK houses.

"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat".

ThisIsWeird

Quite possibly the rooms were reskimmed at some later point? A plasterer ain't going to rip off the 'boards first unless forced to do so at trowel point.

pieroabcd

maybe. Certainly there was a very thick layer of plaster.
BTW, spreading pink gypsum plaster was a real nightmare. The single pass plaster was muuuuch easier and it clung wonderfully to the wall without falling by an inch.

secla

yup id say its had a skim especially if its and older house. 
Plenty of people do a quick skim to repair walls without removing skirtings. The fixings on the other hand are a bit odd and not the norm

FreeBear

My skirting was originally fixed to the walls with one to three cut nails (floorboard type). A right pain in the backside to remove without damage. I can see why someone might want to skim without removing the skirting first.

I'm ripping mine out, insulating the outer walls, and replacing with new timber - Have a local sawmill that can supply an almost identical profile, so the new skirting looks original even after taking a close look.