How much Gripfill to use when fixing skirting?

[Al Reynolds]

Hello,

I am about to fix some skirting using gripfill. How much do I need to put on? Will a thick bead along the top and bottom be enough? Should I have a wavy bead along the middle?

Thanks in advance, Al

[Set Square]

Have a wavy bead, 4-5mm in diameter - over most of the width except for 1cm at the top and bottom. If you get it right, it will stick tight without the Gripfill oozing out at the top or bottom when you press the board against the wall. If the wall is not flat, you will either have to supplement the Gripfill with the odd screw, or find some other way of jamming the board against the wall until the Gripfill has cured.

After it has stuck tight, fill any slight gaps - between the board and wall, and on mitred external corners - with a bead of decorators' caulk.

It it's new board, and you're going to paint it, consider painting it

*before* fitting it to the wall (but *after* cutting/mitreing it, etc.) - it's a lot easier.

[PoP]

The instructions advise wavy bead. Across the width should do it.

You might like to try PinkGrip instead. GripFill is good, but PinkGrip is apparently better to grip instantly.

PoP

[Lurch]

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 21:05:25 +0000, in uk.d-i-y PoP strung together this:

I personally go for no-nails, it's a bit runnier. Gripfill leaves quite a gap between the skirting and wall 'cos it's a bit thicker.

[Rod Hewitt]

PoP wrote in news: [e-mail]:

PoP,

I found that PinkGrip took a long time to go off. Yes - it is sticky. But where I used it in a fairly thick layer I had to leave it till the next day for it to hold securely with no threat of slide.

(Also - using the tube gun excessively in a short period has given me tennis elbow. :-( So go easy when using it. Anyone know of a powered squeezer - not air as I haven't got a compressor?)

Rod

[Andy Hall]

OK, I'll accept that as a convincing reason....

There's a Panasonic battery one but it is north of £200 and the only advantage is that it is hoseless.

If you haven't got one, even a small compressor under £100 is a worthwhile investment. The limitation would be not being able to do substantial spraying or use tools with large air volume requirements like sanders, but most others like mastic guns, nailers and the like don't need much air at all and are huge time savers.

.andy

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[Al Reynolds]

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know how it went! Al

[PoP]

I'm put off by the obvious fact that you've got an air hose and another electrical connection to put up with. In many environments in which I work that would make it quite impractical.

PoP

[The Natural Philosopher]

Obviously you need just enough, and no more.

[Set Square]

Obviously! But then, philosophy does often produce obvious - albeit meaningless - answers!

[Andy Hall]

I'm surprised. You can get fairly small ones.

What I tend to do is to have my compressor outside and run a hose into the house and hook it to a hose reel of reinforced plastic hose

.andy

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[PoP]

You also have to think in terms of the fact that I drive an anti-Tardis, where you open the rear door of the Freelander to be confronted with less space than you imagined possible. Freelanders are not diy-friendly vehicles for someone who needs to transfer tools and equipment between jobs. :(

I really must buy me that X-Trail I've been dreaming of. At least with the X-Trail the rear seats fold flat to produce a very usable rear floor space! Whereas in the Freelander they stick up to prevent you putting anything longer than 47in in the back (yes, anything equal or greater than 4ft won't go in the back!)

Interesting idea. I wasn't aware of the pissobolity of a hose reel, I thought it was limited to just say 10 feet.

PoP

[Al Reynolds]

It's a good job I'm not using expanding foam filler then! Al

[The Natural Philosopher]

:-)

[Andy Hall]

Yeah I know. SWMBO has one. It is relatively limited for your use I imagine.

I sometimes use it for timber shopping and drop the back window down. Then I tie the timber to something appropriately with straps.

Oh no.

Nowadays I have a compressor which lives in the garage and typically I will run a hose from that to the house.

Then to get to where I'm working:

keep the hose reel hose clean and the other one can get dirty.

Hose length matters a bit more if you are using something with high flow requirement like a sprayer or sander, although often these types of tool can tolerate the pressure drop anyway.

When using nailers, very little air is used unless I'm using my big framing nailer, but even that tolerates a long hose.

.andy

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[PoP]

I detect an understatement :)

PoP

[Andy Hall]

There are a whole bunch of generic Italian made compressors around sold under various labels, Most of the usual places have them

For jobs other than serious spraying or high use air tools, something like

it's ilk would be a reasonable buy.

I would avoid anything like

its receiver is too small, even though the package might be attractive as being smallish and a bit lighter than the other models.

The factors are really the motor power and receiver size. If the receiver is too small, then the motor runs a lot and the compressor can't really deliver a large continuous volume of air. Obviously for you, weight and size are important factors as well.

Machine mart has a very wide range, but not necessarily the best prices; so it's worth looking at roughly what you might want and then looking for pricing.

.andy

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