Skirting Boards

[Dianne]

We are laying Encaustic tiles in our vestibule. Old Victorian ones purchased on ebay.

We're nearly at the point where we need to grout them and I know theres lots of advice online but I'd be interested to know what any of you folks have used for this?

Also, we need to replace the skirting board in the vestibule as its completely rotten. I think a white skirting board looks best with the ecasutic tiles but the rest of the house has original wooden skirtings. We'll get new skirtings made for the vesiibule and paint them but should we get them made exactly as per the rest of the house or with a simple moulding?

Your opinion on what would look best would be appreciated!

Thanks, Dianne

 

[Lime]

You will look at the skirting boards for years to come so what do you want to see?

I'd like to see something that fits in and looks appropriate rather than a modern simple finish.
I much prefer repairs and renovations that do not scream out at me "NEW and MODERN" every time I see them.
The cost of good reproduction skirting may be expensive but that cost will soon be forgotten while the pleasure of what you see will linger on for the rest of the time you live there.

 

[Moo]

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to have skirting boards specially made, unless one really has to get an exact match to something already existing.
After all, a skirting's really little more than a plank to protect the plaster at the bottom of a wall, with the (optional) addition of some sort of decorative beading plonked on top of it. I suspect that the skirtings in a lot of old houses were made that way.

 

[Penners]

the rest of the house has original wooden skirtings.

Do you mean natural, unpainted wood? If so, then it's unlikely that this would have been "original". The Victorians tended to prefer painted wood.

I don't think it's absolutely necessary to have skirting boards specially made, unless one really has to get an exact match to something already existing.

I quite agree. Ogee moulded skirting board - available from just about every timber yard in the land, is a very traditional moulding, which sits happily in a Victorian context.

 

[Feltwell]

Make sure you shop around before getting special mouldings made up, they are expensive.

Your local timber yard will almost certainly just stock Torus or Ogee - which if you like them are fine - or half round and chamfered, not fine!

But try people like Dresser Mouldings - they have a much better range and may have something close to what you want ex-stock.

http://www.dressermouldings.com/products/mouldings/timber-skirtings.html

 

[Moo]

http://www.dressermouldings.com/products/mouldings/timber-skirtings.html[/url]

What a wonderful site! Thanks so much.
(you don't get such informative threads on Facebook)

 

[88v8]

As you've gone to the trouble of laying encaustic tiles, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar?
Make or have made a skirting to match the house.

I agree with Lime, you'll only do the job once.
Modern not-quite equivalents are a cop-out.

Ivor

 

[Feltwell]

What a wonderful site! Thanks so much.

No problem Moo.

Dianne, I'm presuming your house is Victorian. If so, they often start off with the grandest mouldings near the entrance, and got gradually smaller / plainer as you went through the house.

So, in my place, the ground floor skirtings, including those in the entrance porch, are very tall and match what is in the hallway and main reception rooms. The kitchen, pantry and all the first floor rooms have the same design but not as large. The attic rooms have the same design but much smaller again.

So, if you've original mouldings in your reception rooms / hallway, I'd match those for your vestibule. You might just hit lucky with Dresser - they do a very close copy to my skirtings, but not my architraves, which I had to get made up for me. I'd spend the money and go for what looks right personally, and I'd paint them rather than stain, but it's your house and it needs to go with what you've already got as decoration elsewhere! If you put in something plain that doesn't match then I think in the long term you'll regret it, especially as it sounds like you're going to a fair bit of trouble with the floor tiles.

 

[Penners]

As you've gone to the trouble of laying encaustic tiles, why spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar? Modern not-quite equivalents are a cop-out.

Don't you think that's rather an elitist point-of-view, Ivor? Many people restore/renovate/repair period properties on a tight budget, so one person's ha'porth of tar may be another person's repointed chimney... or whatever. As for "spoiling the ship" I find it difficult to equate that draconian metaphor with a possible slight modification of a moulding shape.

 

[Dianne]

The skirting boards I have in the rest of my house are completely totally plain - plain wood not painted, quite tall but no detail on them at all!! They are original though. I think to go with the encaustic tiles white painted is best so I'll be doing that. My question is what would look best - getting completely plain ones made to match the rest of my house or should I get them made with a bit of moulding detail in the vestibule - does it matter that they won't match the rest of the house?

So painting them is a done deal. Having them made is a done deal. Question is whether to have them made completely plain to match rest of the house or have them with a simple moulding?

Thanks, Dianne

 

[plasticpigeon]

I am surprised at totally plain skirtings, I'd have thought a simple torus or ogee at least. I think skirtings look better with some sort of moulding at the top. Most unmolested Victorian places I have seen have dark varnished woodwork. How old is your house?? If you have laid the tiles butting up to each other with minimal gaps, I have read in period construction books that liquid pure cement slurry was used to grout.

 

[Moo]

Our very humble little terrace house has quite grand skirtings in the main downstairs room; in the hall, stairs and landings theyre much plainer (just a narrow beading); and all three bedrooms have plain six-inch planks.

 

[MatthewC]

Our very humble little terrace house has quite grand skirtings in the main downstairs room; in the hall, stairs and landings theyre much plainer (just a narrow beading); and all three bedrooms have plain six-inch planks.

That's pretty well the skirting that I had here when I moved in - nice 7" plank with moulding in the lounge and 6" plain planks on all of upstairs, BUT the kitchen and hall had 6" cement moulded in situ (grrrr). I've now got identical (and expensive) new skirting in the lounge (due to damp rot), none in the kitchen (as I've laid flagstones) but the hall has to wait longer...

 

[wobs]

Make sure you shop around before getting special mouldings made up, they are expensive.

Your local timber yard will almost certainly just stock Torus or Ogee - which if you like them are fine - or half round and chamfered, not fine!

But try people like Dresser Mouldings - they have a much better range and may have something close to what you want ex-stock.

http://www.dressermouldings.com/products/mouldings/timber-skirtings.html

I'm please to say that site doesn't do the design I was after, as I've resorted to a local joiners to make us some architrave to match the old stuff.

Our last house had nearly all of its original architrive replaced with a plane chamfered moulding, and I wished I'd replaced it, as it always bugged me.

The skirting was all torus, so easy to replace, even though it was 9" downstairs (had to replace lots when got damp sorted).

In the new house, there's architrave and skirting which is effectively the 1901 designs here:
http://www.architecturaljoineryltd.co.uk/pages/product_range/pine_architraves/pa-1901.html
http://www.architecturaljoineryltd.co.uk/pages/product_range/pine_skirting_boards/psb-1901.html

Essentially, the skirting is very similar to the torus, and the previous owner has used that in some areas. To be fair, it doesn't look too bad.

The company in the link unfortuinately is immune to my emails and phone calls.