How do you people cut skirting board at an angle to go round corners?
I have a mitre board which is a waste of space for this job. The skirting I've got is torus one side and ogee the other and I think that's the problem. If I could clamp the skirting board solidly and then cut it then I cut get a decent cut but the mitre board doesn't do this. What do other people do?
I'm willing to invest in this a little as I have a lot of skirting to do in 3 rooms but what I get has to compete for space in a small well used garage so permanent fixtures can't be used.
Depends whether the corners are external or internal usually external corners are "mitred" whilst internal ones are "coped". Coping is much easier to do than describe so I wont even attempt to explain, try :-
Yes it does look good but fails in cutting in cutting depth of 6",if your skirting is 5"? then its fine, anything over and you will need a crosspull type.
Firstly what size skirtings are you using. You can easily but a chop saw that wont cut through enough at 45 degrees. I tried for ages with a mitre saw on some 8" skirtings, wasted loads trying to get lengths spot on. Ended up buying one of these:-
I have a 45 degree router cutter, although, as walls are rarely at 90 degrees, that is usually only a starting point and the joint needs to be finished by hand, using a plane.
Aldi were doing a pull/chop mitre saw for about =A365 quid some time back but either will take up a lot of space once you finish the skirting.
It is a daunting project but one you could get to enjoy if you set up properly. You need a bench made of 2x3s and some ply at a minimum. Some breeze blocks and a length of chipboard flooring will do.
Screw a board or 2 x 1 to the middle and screw a piece of 6 x 2 to that and put a 45 degree cut down the middle. Fix a batton to the other side to stop it wabbling, another baton at each end as supports and you are away.
Use a brand new Bahco. I always use a 22" but the slightly shorter might be better. Start with the longest wall with a doorway in it in the smallest room and cut a lenght an inch or so longer then you need.
Mark the final length against the architrave and fit it loosely. If you cut the long sides a quarter of an inch long, they will hold themselves in place.
The next one needs a scribed cut to butt onto the first laid. Cut a mitre and use a coping saw to follow the outline. At this point you may notice that you have sut the mitre in the bench the wrong way. Get another block and start again.
Though with two blocks you can work a room from two sides of the door and cut down travelling time. I would just do one at a time if I were you though.
The skirting needs to be measured from that cut to the wall plus your little bit extra depending on how long it is. In this way you will get around the room always uising the same angled cut.
External corners are a little trickier depending on how square and plumb the walls are. Don't waste time fiddling. Put a mark on the top inside edge and eye it up for the cut. Check it's long enough -if it is a little too long wait till you have cut its partner before fettling it.
Glue and pin and the job's a good-un.
If you are in new property the walls might be tin studding. This is absolute rubbish but what can you do? Don't try and find a place to fix it. If the builders never placed a batton behind for the skirting, then you are lost. All you can do is gripfill and pin it and hope for the best.
There are posts on here about putting it on wavy walls and the like. Just use a search engine to find them all.
That white filler mastic might cover a mutitude of sins with your joints. Use pva on them not that. You will be able to slather that on later.
I chickened out of this some time ago as not only is there the headache of the accuracy of the cut, but modern wide skirting boards inevitably have a bow on them and that makes the cutting even more difficult.
I now run all skirting over the circular saw to give a series of scarf cuts on the rear to take out the bow. And then I don't attempt to mitre cut - I make nice feature blocks for all the corners and just butt the skirting to them. But then I live in an old house and such features go well with it and I'm prepared to put in the time to do that sort of thing.
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