Had a skim on the lounge walls, after removing the old skirting, but the skim ends about 2.5 inches from the floor. So the new skirting (3 inches high) will not go flat against the wall - there is a 'void' behind it of 1/3 inch... Can anyone advise if it is better to use a surface filler first, so the skirting can be glued and nailed onto it, or just leave the gap and use bigger blobs of glue / longer nails to reach the wall behind?
Graham
I fixed mine with dabs of 'no-nails', stuck like the proverbial sh** to a stick, no problems.
Don.
Thank you - I have put skirting on in this way in the past (using blobs of glue and nails), but for some reason it still bothers me having the gap behind. And come to think of it one piece fell off after being hit with a hoover! I am just curious how a builder would do it - level the surface first or whack the new skirting straight on...
Just put it straight on. When the nonails goes 'off', it'd take more than a hoover to knock it off. What I did tho', was run along the top edge of the skirting with decorators caulk just to fill any small gaps.
Don.
I always thought the gap was left for a purpose, possibly to stop water soaking into the plaster if the floor got wet.
A small gap is normally left to lessen the chance of any dust/grit being picked up during plastering and dragged onto the wall causing scratches - although most plasterers today leave a bigger gap purely because they can't be arsed to bend down that far.
Franko.
So that's what it's for, now logged into my memory, thanks.
I also would be bothered by the unsupported bottom 2.5". I normally get around it by applying a generous bead of instant foam along the edge of the floor, I then put a thin bead of water based 'No Nails' along the top edge of the skirting and push it carefully into place. The idea of course is that the foam expands and makes contact with the bottom of the skirting giving a mechnical bond. To do this properly the procedure will include;-
1) Pinning some stop strips along the very edge of the floor to locate the bottom of the skirting 2) Run some 2" masking tape along the edge of the floor to catch any excess foam 3) Spray the area to be foamed with water first so that it will expand and make good contact with the rear of the skirting 4) The skirting will need to be held in place while the foam sets otherwise it will push it out of alignment. To do this I normally stop any vertical movement by nailing a few 2" oval nails into the wall along the top edge of the skirting (easily removed and filled later), The skirting now needs holding back to the wall while the foam sets, this is easy with a wood floor, but as yours is concrete you will need to wedge it back with props across the room to the opposite wall, or by wedging timbers to several heavy objects distanced away from the wall.The beauty of this method is that it's quick and you don't see any nail heads which is perfect for unpainted finishes, just be careful about where you put the foam. I hope this helps.
Certainly a new way to do it - have not seen anything like it in all the on-line guides! However I have now read a quite a few guides that specifically state that the gap where the plaster does not go down to the floor is left to prevent damp problems, and filling this gap can 'breach' the damp-proof course and cause problems in the future... So I am now thinking of leaving the gap behind the skirting, and fixing it as best I can. This will be my first attempt to scribe the internal corners - before I have just mitred them. Graham
The foam won't transmit damp, it will effectively act as a damp barrier
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