Re-fixing nine inch skirting boards

[Mark Barrett]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on this forum so I hope it's O.K. to make it a question. My house is approx. 120 years old and is having a makeover inside and out. I have only average DIY skills so just doing the bits I can realistically do myself and calling in the experts for the rest

I have had a fair bit of re-plastering done (no surprise there!) and have generally left skirting boards, picture rails, architraves etc. in situ. But I had to remove 4 pieces of skirting board. All pieces are 9 inches deep, one nearly 12 feet long, and the other three about 4 feet long.

To refix them I can't really see beyond rawplugs and screws. Countersink the screws, apply filler and paint over.

But it is nagging at me whether I should be doing anything more sympathetic to the age of the property and the techniques originally used?

Any comments/opinions/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

 

[LadyArowana]

Hello and welcome, just bumping this up the list. Hopefully someone who knows will be along soon.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Experts???

Yes what you are suggesting sounds like the normal way to fix skirting. It might be good to affix a wooden spacer where you screw so that the skirting when screwed tight is level with the plaster (I assume that the plaster doesn't go all the way to the floor). The traditional way was to rake out some vertical mortar joints at regular intervals, hammer wooden wedges in, cut the wedges level with the plasterwork and then nail the skirting to the wedges. It is not a bad way of doing things, but drilling and screwing is easier and just as good in my opinion.

 

[88v8]

Welcome to the forum.

If you have a plug cutter you could counterbore the skirting, but I guess if you had a plug cutter you'd already have thought of that.

Filler is OK. Or putty, if you want to be more 'period', but it would need to skin before painting.

Ivor

 

[Mark Barrett]

Thanks very much for your comments and advice. At least i was thinking along the right lines . . . . . . .

The original fixings were indeed wooden wedges between the bricks and nails. The new plaster has been taken lower than it was before so I don't think I'll go that route. Rawlplugs and screws it is then.

I was interested to read about these plug cutters. With my limited DIY knowledge I never even knew they existed. But I can see that if I wasn't wanting to paint the skirting boards this would be a very useful tool/technique. Something I will remember and possibly utilise in some later project.

Thanks again.

ATB

Mark Barrett

 

[Penners]

Rawlplugs and screws it is then.

That's the way to do it.

If you're planning to paint the skirting, then there's no reason not to use filler to cover the countersunk screwheads. If you plan to use a clear finish over the wood, then carefully drilled and plugged screwholes will make a much neater job. Make sure you align the grain of the plug with the grain of the skirting, for best "invisibility".

I wouldn't use putty as filler. It's tedious and not very effective.

 

[Feltwell]

Agree on the putty, I use it as a filler outside sometimes when using linseed paint, but internally I always use Ronseal two-part wood filler - the type where you mix in a catalyst and it goes off in about 15 minutes. Much easier, it sands or drills much better, and it doesn't matter how deep you fill it, it still goes off in the same timeframe.

I don't get too hung up on things like replicating original methods of fixing, where new ways are quicker, easier or more effective and are hidden. A classic example is the bay window I'm repairing at the moment - modern stainless steel ultra sharp self driving screws will make a much more permanent repair than nails, part of the problem with the bay is where the original nails used in its construction have rusted away. Any kind of visible repair though and I wouldn't want to use overtly modern fixings, or at least use something that is aesthetically in keeping. For example, on the windows I repair I don't nail the staff beads in place, as they would have been originally - I use brass slot head screws - just because it makes it so much easier to take the staff beads out in future if necessary without damaging them. I could use modern pozi-head screws but they would look out of place.

 

[Penners]

self driving screws

Wow! Do tell me where to buy those. It will save me from buying a new screwdriver!

:wink:

 

[plasticpigeon]

Feltwell, you're dead right there, most of the problems on my bay are also from rusting nails. I've used hardwood dowels to pin joints together where I have inserted new wood.

 

[Feltwell]

self driving screws

Wow! Do tell me where to buy those. It will save me from buying a new screwdriver!

:wink:

Penners, if Google can come up with a self driving car, surely a screw should be easy? :wink:

(Damn, he got me!)

 

[Penners]

surely a screw should be easy?

Doesn't that depend on one's age?

 

[Keithj]

I bought some self-tapping screws. They worked.

I was taught the "bang a wedge into the wall" trick for fixing wall cupboards in a very old Welsh house that we owned years ago. The internal walls were large lumps of rock with some soft mortar in between (may have been mud, may have been lime, I didn't know about such stuff in those days). The local builders' merchant explained how to whack wedges into the wall till they jammed firmly between rocks, then cut them off flush with the wall, then screw a plank horizontally across them, then fix the high-level kitchen units to them. Worked a treat, that did.

 

[CliffordPope]

I was interested to read about these plug cutters. With my limited DIY knowledge I never even knew they existed. But I can see that if I wasn't wanting to paint the skirting boards this would be a very useful tool/technique. Something I will remember and possibly utilise in some later project.

I've used plugs when fastening a deck on an old boat. The purpose is partly appearance (match the wood and grain direction) but also to stop water penetration. A wooden dowel for example would be easy but be a water trap and look awful.

Be warned if you ever do cut wooden plugs - NEVER use a plug cutter in a hand-held drill. The cutter is razor-sharp, and it will bounce uncontrollably if it binds, like a chainsaw kicking back.
But on a simple drill stand you can make dozens quickly and safely.

 

[c r]

Hi

I think however its worth saying theres an advantage with nails, such as with the 'lost head' type, in that these hidden under a bit of filler/paint will make the skirting much easier to remove in the future without damaging it, by comparison with screws that are hidden under filler/paint.

Perhaps thats not so much a concern in this case, and maybe its unlikely to be removed again for a long time, in theory...but if the skirting is original, or particularly interesting/ornate its worth thinking about!

 

[88v8]

Hi

I think however its worth saying theres an advantage with nails, such as with the 'lost head' type, in that these hidden under a bit of filler/paint will make the skirting much easier to remove in the future without damaging it, by comparison with screws that are hidden under filler/paint.

Whether screws or nails, don't use water-based filler over steel fixings, they will rust through, oh yes they will.

Ivor

 

[eezageeza]

...."NEVER use a plug cutter in a hand-held drill...."

unless you buy one specially specced for the purpose :

http://www.axminster.co.uk/fisch-plug-cutters-with-hex-shanks

I have one of these, and they work very well.

 

[88v8]

Never seen those.
Good old Aximinster.
Trouble is, one can just go on and on buying tools, and I have.... really I need a new router, or for the infrequency with which I use it, do I

Ivor

 

[CliffordPope]

Never seen those.
Good old Aximinster.

Nor me. Clever simple idea. Of course, it's having the straight outer edge that creates the danger.

 

[eezageeza]

"....really I need a new router, or for the infrequency with which I use it, do I..."

Just the one?? I couldn't possibly manage with less than my 2...or could I???? They're like most power tools - not used very frequently by the average owner, but indispensable when you need them. I'm sure it won't take too much creative thought on your part to justify the expense....

 

[88v8]

True, but then I'd have to decide which one.
Mind you, pretty much anything will improve on my olde B&D.
Oops, I meant 'would' rather than 'will'.
I think.

Ivor