Right Im no DIY expert but Im gonna have a go. What I want to know is how do you know what angle to cut the skirting to get a nice joint? I have a mitre saw in the garage somewhere so cutting isnt too much of a problem, I hope. Any other general hints and tips to do with skirting boards would be a bonus before I just have a go and balls it up

 

Unless your walls are majorly pissed I think you'll be looking at 45 degree cuts dude

You can get angle finder rulers from DIY shops if you're in an old house [or one of Chip's constructions] and it looks majorly out? Then just divide the number by 2...

Edited to add, when I fitted all mine I screwed them into rawl plugs in the wall, countersunk the screws into the skirting then filled in the holes. Then run some caulk along the top where it touches the wall to hide any gaps [shouldn't be any if you fix it properly] and bob's your fanny.

ALSO, buy the pre-primed stuff or prime it BEFORE you fix it up as it's a cunt [I hate painting].

 

You cut the outer corners at 45 degrees and scribe (copy the shape of the skirting) the inner corners and cut with a coping saw! making sure you cut the correct length.

 

Paddy, it aint a new house mate and there a bit off 90 degree corners

J6KYT, what do you mean the outer corners??

I fucking hate DIY

 

outer corners he means external corners, quite hard to explain if your a thicko like me LOL

see here for more details and how to
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/WO...TING_BOARD.htm

 

bpspa cheers fella

 

Picture a square. If that's your room, there are four internal corners. If you were skirting the outside, they'd be external/outer

J6KYTs advice on scribing is fucking genius, wish I'd done that for a flush fit rather than using a tonne of filler

 

Get a mitre saw it'll do it for you, piece of piss.

 

Paddy I realised how stupid that question was after I asked it

Scribing is a cracking idea

 

Use 45 degree cuts when you join boards too - unless you have four very long boards or a very small room you're gonna have to join bits.
Scribing sounds cool. I must confess to just using 45 degs on all the corners and then filler to take up any slack.

 

do as paddy suggests, easiest thing in the world to do

if the joints are out, a bit of builders white gunk will cover the gaps

 

Be more specific Dojj.

Bigern is likely to now go and ask a builder if he can have some of his white gunk.

If you do, pics or STFU.

 

I decided to use my own white gunk but the gaps are quite large and Im sore now so gonna have to stop for the day. I hope it looks ok when it sets

 

Also if you counter bore the fixing holes and have invisable caps you could have removable boards which makes fitting carpets and decorating very easy. tis what i done....Simples

 

you remove your skirtings to decorate? invisible caps? ive never seen them before.

 

invisible caps


we need pics


i wanna router the skirting out so can run all my cables inside

but

no doubt the living room will be changed about at some point so some revovable skirting is a winner

 

if you accidently drop an invisible cap when fitting it, how will you find it again?

 

 

white gunkis called.....decorators caulk

the cut your trying to describe are called...... butt and scribe

and the 45 cuts are called,...........mitres

google them and see

 

as a tip, for filler, my dad used to use sawdust mixed with pva glue....looks less obvious if you're leaving the wood au naturel

 

here's a pic




























if they are invisable how can you take a photo of them ?

 

old joiners with failing eyesight do this and its very obvious to look at. plus pva wont take any stain should you wish to apply any leaving pale bits.
modern methods of specific colour fillers for such occasions cant really be beaten if your unable to get the joints tight in the first place.

 

last time we did skirting boards in our house was a bout 10 years ago and they look alright to me.

 

That's the propper way to do it (how mines done) also if your using real wood that moves (not MDF) you won't have big gaps in the corner when the wood shrinks back.

 

did some in my house last week, fucking nightmare.

i started trying 45o angles but none of the walls are straight so just cut it straight and bodged it up with filler, it'll be painted so not to worry.

when i took off the old skirting most the fucking plaster came off, old houses for you!!

 

the glue and sawdust trick is good on joins, but not so easy to do on mitres i don't think

what we've done is removed ALL the old skirting, done the walls, fited the carpet and everything, then fitted the skirting with rawbolts that you hammer in
the countersink was filled with "invisable caps" which are actually plugs cut from a bit of board with the grain going the same way so when you cover the hole your fixing has left, it looks "invisable after you've glued it in, cut it flush and sanded and painted over the top

a bit of a fucker to find again when you want to remove them though