Skirting Dilema

[CHRIS]

I have a room that I have finished lime washing and will use it as a study area and home office, It never had skirting but was just plastered down to the floor boards. I keep banging stuff up against the wall and putting dents in it, so I am considering putting some sort of skirting to protect the wall and wonder what type may be ok for an 1802 small 3.5 x 2.5m room.

I was considering just a plain plank about 100x19mm as some places in the house have a flush fitting with the face of the plaster skirt with the same dims.

any ideas?

 

[Penners]

Chris - I believe that, in Essex, uPVC skirting boards have been in use since the 17th century. Exports to the rest of England didn't start until the mid 20th century.
:wink:

 

[Becka]

how old is your house? (and where abouts are you..? noticed you mentioned Saffron walden a couple of times.. wondering if we might be nearly neighbours..) I've found that in the older parts of mine (approx 1600's) quarry like tiles were run along the base of the wall embedded in the wattle and daub presumably to act as skirting.. then skimmed over, presumably by later generations.. if your house is of a similar vintage it might be a good alternative

 

[CHRIS]

Becka
I am in Thaxted between the church and the windmill, the house was built for the windmill workers in 1802 ish. Or so I have been told. I am the one with the nice 1960s single glazed windows which will be replaced when the Premium bonds come in!!!!! I did consider the tile option but I think timber would be better as I already have a few walls with flush face timber - plaster

The PVC is only avalible in white to be in keeping with our shoes!!!!!!!!

 

[Becka]

Nice I'll look out for it next time I pass though.. Not quite neighbours then, I'm in Walden just around the back of castle street.. Ahh.. native essex then..? I was raised across the border in Herts so wasn't issued with my regulation white stilettos at birth unfortunatley...

 

[CHRIS]

born in Southend!!!!! true Essex boy. I bet you have fun with parking etc up Castle Street - infact we looked at the house for sale last year with the nice green sash windows up there

 

[Becka]

Bout as essex as you can get is south end..! Parking can be fun.. I'm not on Castle St proper but in one of the old squares behind it.. which is unfortunatly adjacent to the nearest free parking to the town centre and has no residents spaces.. I'm ok as long as I leave when everyone arrives for work and arrive back when they leave and never move the car on saturday unless I'm prepared to park it about 1/2 a mile away when i return (possibly slight exagguration, but feels like that if you've lots of shopping.. ) The major compensation is (apart from lovely house of course) that so long as what I need is in town I don't actually need to drive there anyway much more environmentally friendly

 

[Moo]

Becka - I live in a zone with residents' parking, but we have the same problems as you do. In the morning the residents leave for work, and their spaces are immediately taken by cars sporting Visitors' permits. There is a suspicion that a number of residents are supplementing their incomes by renting the permits to friends.
Whether or not that's true, finding a parking space is rather like playing musical chairs.

 

[Becka]

I know that feeling.. and the closeness of the space you manage to find is always inversely related to the amount of stuff you have to carry in!

 

[Penners]

I was raised across the border in Herts so wasn't issued with my regulation white stilettos at birth unfortunatley...

You're clearly not native Essex, Becka, otherwise you'd know that it's not white stilletos, but white trainers that are standard issue.

 

[Penners]

born in Southend

I thought it was spelled "Sahfend".

I'm sorry - I shall now stop making predictable Essexist remarks (thereby trying to deflect attention from the fact that I lived in Ridgewell, then Great Yeldham for a total of about 12 years!)

 

[Becka]

Nope.. not native... but then i was born in Wales which raises plenty of jokes of its own.. should have known the trainers thing tho.. used to go shellsuit spotting in harlow in my teens base ball caps and belt length hipster ra-ra skirts seem to be the thing at the mo I've noticed

 

[CHRIS]

You are just jealous as we have the best weather!!!!! and the best boy racers!!!! home of the XR3

I moved away when I was 13 only to move back 22 years later - must be an attraction somewhere.

 

[Becka]

Both are probably true.. plenty of boy racers.. and lovely weather.. going out to enjoy some of of it shortly as i've volunteered to help out at bridge end gardens..

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

I was considering just a plain plank about 100x19mm as some places in the house have a flush fitting with the face of the plaster skirt with the same dims.

any ideas?

Chris, I have some tiled skirtings, not embedded though, and some boards. The boards are simple 2.5" deep planks with a rounded top. Simple and descrete for the old style building, yet stops you bashing the walls all the time with the vacuum cleaner etc. These boards must be readily available as my carpenter picked them up from somewhere. They are a pretty good match to the older ones I have, but they have an angled top edge rather than a smooth round top edge.

Sue