Please Help Me Fit Skirting!

woodbutcher_2

That's why they dont plaster to the floor,because it can pick up damp.

bookduck

Someone has to ask the stupid obvious question, so here goes: Why do you not use gripfil. or blobs of it?

tonyE1

I laid a wooden floor in my apt recently and when I came to do the skirting boards I also found a couple of problems. Like you I had curved skirting boards. This was caused because I was told to whitewash the boards both sides before fixing them. The wood these days is not high quality and warps very easily.

In the end the only answer is to buy new boards and attach them before they are warped.

I then discovered that my floor ( old warehouse ) had bowed so that when the board was laid on the floor in some places the board and floor touched and in others there was a big gap ( up to 1 cm ) if that makes sense. This looked awful and I thought a filler would look just as bad. So after some though I decided I would plane the bottom edge to fit the contour of the floor. End result looks perfect and unless you looked closely you wouldn't notice the skirting board has different heights along its length.

ukwoody

You can only use Grippfill if the wall and timber are straight, then it's great. otherwise it just wont hold it back.

To fill the gap. How deep is it? If it is roughly the same as the thickness of the skirting board, cut of some of the skirting, about an inch wide. Using a bit of gripfill or similar if necessary stick it in the gap. Then fix the board near the top as we've said, and fix near the botom, close, but not thru, the paice of wood you've just stcuk in there. You may indeed need to use screws for that, in which case (ok, heres the short cut, off the record fixing bit!) get a 6mm masonary drill bit. Use GOOD quality RED plugs. Drill thru the skirting straight into the wall. push plug in to hole most of the way. Stick screw (2 1/2" no8 or 4 x 60mm) in and knock almost home. Finish off by screwing tight and the screw head will sink into the wood about 2mm. Then cover with filler.
See even we have to resort to rough methods somethimes! LOL
woody

bigdavethehorn

ukwoody wrote: »

get a 6mm masonary drill bit. Use GOOD quality RED plugs. Drill thru the skirting straight into the wall. push plug in to hole most of the way. Stick screw (2 1/2" no8 or 4 x 60mm) in and knock almost home. Finish off by screwing tight and the screw head will sink into the wood about 2mm. Then cover with filler.woody

Thank you, I'll give this a go at the weekend and report back/shout for more help!

woodbutcher_2

In future you could buy mdf skirting boards,bit dearer but dead straight and flat with the added bonus of being ready primed.I always screw and plug skirtings the way ukwoody recommends.

Bungarm2001

woodbutcher wrote: »

That's why they dont plaster to the floor,because it can pick up damp.

Blimey, is that right!!? and here's me thinking that is was either because plasterers are lazy baskets or they don't bother finishing it off at floor level 'cos they know someone will cover the gap with skirting!?! :rotfl: :rolleyes:

tomstickland

So why don't the bricks transmit the damp?

john175bramley

woodbutcher wrote: »

In future you could buy mdf skirting boards,bit dearer but dead straight and flat with the added bonus of being ready primed.I always screw and plug skirtings the way ukwoody recommends.

I always use MDF rather than wooden skirting it's far easier to fit. If you want MDF skirting on the cheap buy a sheet of 8' X 4' MDF from B&Q (about £15) and have them cut it for you to the desired widths (you can get at least 8 pieces of 5" skirting from one sheet). If you want fancier skirting simply add an MDF dado rail to the top of the MDF strips.

woodbutcher_2

The bricks dont transmit damp because they are above the damp course level.Floors are usually but not always at the dpc level.If you plaster to the floor it is possible that damp will transmit in places.Also anything spilt on the floor can soak up the wall.This doesn't apply upstairs of course.

Buying mdf sheets to convert into skirting will work but has two drawbacks.Maximum length is 2.4 meaning joins on long runs.The quality of the mdf is questionable.Skirting is made from moisture resistant(green)mdf which is also better quality.You can buy sheets of green mdf to convert i suppose but it will still be short lengths.