Replacing skirting boards

[Brabbinho]

Throwing this out to the OCUK hive mind as its a new one on me.

When we bought the house we are in now, the previous owners had affixed a wooden bed/shelving unit to the walls into the box room for their son. We've removed this to make room for our daughters cotbed. For some reason they had removed the skirting behind the bed. To which end we need to replace the skirting in the whole room as we can't find one to match the rest.

I've removed the skirting and the plaster boards in the room only go down as far as the top of the skirting. Below is a void to the bricks.

My question is what do we do with the void and do we need to do anything? the bottom of the plaster board is a little worn so will need minor repairs before affixing the skirting board anyway.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[bremen1874]

Assuming that the 'void' wasn't caused by you getting over enthusiastic while removing the original skirting don't worry about it.

As long as there's enough there to attach to, get a couple of tubes of instant grab adhesive and get the new skirting slapped on.

 

[robj20]

Not the same as my situation but I replastered leaving only a few mm at floorboard level. Then used grab adhesive to fix the skirting, (make sure to scribe inside corners, not miter like external ones)
For you I'd probably fill the gap with expanding foam to add some strength behind the skirting.

 

[Maccapacca]

Grab some bulk filler and a trowel and parge the gap with a decent bagged filler then plant the skirting over.

If you buy prefinished skirting (Wickes sell it) over size it you may only need to painters mate the top. No decoration

 

[Brabbinho]

Assuming that the 'void' wasn't caused by you getting over enthusiastic while removing the original skirting don't worry about it.

As long as there's enough there to attach to, get a couple of tubes of instant grab adhesive and get the new skirting slapped on.

No, void was already there. The plaster board only overlaps the skirting by a couple of mm, the old skirting was held on by nails into wooden beams or blocks

 

[Brabbinho]

Grab some bulk filler and a trowel and parge the gap with a decent bagged filler then plant the skirting over.

If you buy prefinished skirting (Wickes sell it) over size it you may only need to painters mate the top. No decoration

I was thinking about filling when posing the question, but other than small cosmetic damage I've not done it before.

Any recommendations on products to use?

 

[Maccapacca]

I was thinking about filling when posing the question, but other than small cosmetic damage I've not done it before.

Any recommendations on products to use?

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Polycell-Trade-Polyfilla-All-Purpose-Powder-Filler---5kg/p/228097

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Powagrip-Plastering-Trowel---8in/p/143228

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-General-Use+Builders-Bucket---14L/p/543007

And if you're feeling flash

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Heavy-Duty-Twin-Propeller-Paddle-Mixer---120-x-600mm/p/167365

The original timbers were probably what they call grounds so the original plasterer can maintain the plaster thickness then left to fit the skirting to.

 

[Molep]

Assuming it's a first floor room, I'd just bung a few wooden chocks behind the skirting every 40cm or so and attach skirting to that.

If ground floor I'd advise leaving the gap there for air flow.

 

[Brabbinho]

Assuming it's a first floor room, I'd just bung a few wooden chocks behind the skirting every 40cm or so and attach skirting to that.

If ground floor I'd advise leaving the gap there for air flow.

Yes its a first floor. So you'd screw the chocks to the brickwork and then the skirting into that?

 

[Molep]

yeah either chocks Into brickwork or if lucky enough to get a generic width, a horizontal strip of wood and attach skirting to that.

 

[happy_2008]

I found that pre-finished skirting board still needed 2 coats of paint. I ended up buying mine from mdf world and painted them all with 2 coats before using wickes £2 grab adhesive.

 

[Brabbinho]

yeah either chocks Into brickwork or if lucky enough to get a generic width, a horizontal strip of wood and attach skirting to that.

I'll investigate the gaps behind as thats probably easier than filling it all

 

[explicit4u]

Soudal expanding foam to fill the gap, a sharp knife and some sand paper to level it with the rest of the wall. Miles easier than plastering it up just to cover it in skirting.

 

[mid_gen]

I've got exactly this job on at the moment. I ripped up the carpet and laid engineered wood floor, which meant ripping up the skirting, and some ugly built on cabinets around the fireplace.

They are all 170mm tall skirting. The internal walls have plaster down to 1-2" from the floor so no problem there, I'll just screw them into the plaster with rawlplugs.

The exterior walls though only come down to a few mm below the 170mm. Even worse, behind the cabinets, it doesn't even come down that far. So first of all I've bought some ready mix plaster than I've used to bring the plaster down far enough and sand and tidy the edge.

To fix those parts, I'll have to use wood chocks in the void, no way I'm filling it all.

Got to finish oiling the skirting today and I'll be fixing it at the weekend. Solid Oak skirting looks nice but it's a faff to fit.

 

[pp111]

I was thinking about filling when posing the question, but other than small cosmetic damage I've not done it before.

Any recommendations on products to use?

If you want to fill it then the best thing is a one-coat plaster, or a bonding coat plaster. You need something like that because 1. it's cheap, 2. it will fill depths up to several inches in one go.

A good idea is to use 2" masking tape on the floor to protect the floor if you haven't done this before. Don't worry about tape trapped under the plaster. You will need a trowel and ideally a cheap right angle. Fill in the gap with the trowel, then wait until it starts to harden ( not long, 20 mins or so ) and scrape off any excess with the right angle, ensuring it's at a right angle to the floor so the skirting attaches well. Finish is of course not important, and you can glue the skirting board to the plaster after about three days or nail pretty much immediately.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/search?text=bonding+coat

or

https://www.wickes.co.uk/search?text=one+coat+plaster

 

[Skiddley]

The oldskool method was to hammer wooden pegs into the mortar joints in the brickwork, and then affix the skirting to that. I think the wooden chocks screwed to the wall is a good compromise.

 

[200sols]

Gun grade expanding foam, push skirting on and hold in place until its set.

 

[Flake87]

Threw me when you said plaster board, I was assuming it was a newer house. There were various mouldings used over time from Victorian through arts & crafts up to the present day. I would suggest you install a period correct skirting as it retains value when you come to sell.

If the skirting has been removed you might find the carpet will need a little to be trimmed off when install new skirtings. Another little bit of advice is to get it painted / stained before you install is much much easier.

 

[a1ex2001]

The oldskool method was to hammer wooden pegs into the mortar joints in the brickwork, and then affix the skirting to that. I think the wooden chocks screwed to the wall is a good compromise.

I’d do this filling behind the skirting is an epic waste of time and money!

 

[RianBB]

Personally, I'd do it myself. I'd rip it off and do the cutting for the new - that's how we roll

For a couple of reasons - first, we can never seem to find anyone to do a job, they either don't turn up to look at the job, or don't get back to us with a price.

And secondly, if we do manage to get a job done, it's either left with a frustratingly poor standard, or unfinished for us to do to the standard we want.

And if it is a small job like this, it's even worse getting someone to do it. Here is a helpful blog https://skirtingsrus.co.uk/guides-and-help-blog/ to get some tips and tricks on how to perform this job effectively.