I've removed some of the ground floor skirting to repair the hardwood floor and now need to fit new skirting. The plaster is thick (15-25mm) and ends about 140mm above the floor so I'm planning to use 160mm skirting and fix battens to the wall and attach the skirting to the battens. I can't decide whether to attach a number of short pieces of batten vertically, or one long piece horizontally and just above the floor. Is there a "normal" way to batten for skirting?
I would go with horizontal - less fixings required, and you can fix the high points and pack the low ones, to get a nice flat batten to fix to. Saves the skirting wafting in and out :-)
The traditional method in brick walls is to insert wooden wedges into vertical gaps between bricks. For the wedges use timber that is the same width as the height of the bricks and slightly thicker than the gap in the bricks. The secret is to create a wedge that has a twist in it rather than a wedge shape, this is simply done with an axe by scalloping two diagonally corners until the wedge starts to fit the gap. Finally after hammering the wedge into the gap use a level or straight edge to mark off the depth of plaster onto the protruding wedge and then saw off the extra timber. Nailing through the skirting into the wedges produces a sound fixing and a skirting that does not move.
If it's anything like my 1908 house where the skirting was was nailed to vertical battens and the walls plastered afterwards then refitting any new skirting is going to be a complete PITA, irrespective of the way you fit any battening. I resorted to knocking off the bottom foot, or more, of plaster and re plastering to get a nice reference edge /surface on which to cover with the skirting.
The original plaster on the walls wasn't plumb and it tapered out at the ceiling and floor levels and the thickness of plaster at the top and bottom inconsistent.
The original skirting was quite high and in estate agent speak "period" aka crap, which fitted in nicely with the surface mounted lead water pipes and the thick layers of distemper paint on the walls of a couple of rooms. Removing the old skirting, which was covered in a tar like varnish, and replacing it with something else required filling in a largish gap anyway so removing more plaster to try and achieve a better reference edge between wall and skirting was a no brainer :)
The problem with a horizontal batten on an old uneven wall (brick behind the plaster) is that you have to get it true in two directions over the whole length. If it twists and it is not 100% plumb with the finished plaster the skirting will not be plumb and you are likely to get a large gap at the wall skirting join
I would use individual vertical battens where its easier to get them true in both directions with some packing. Or, when you offer up the skirting attach some packing to the front of the batten, perhaps held in place with superglue.
Consider also that with vertical battens that you attach your skirting top and bottom. To achieve the same with horizontal battens you would need two of them.
Put a long spirit level along the position of the top of your new skirting to establish if you may have problems with fitting. Is the wall actually flat and does the plaster below this top line stick out further from the wall?
You probably need to attach the skirting near the top and bottom vertically to get it to pull into the wall at the top.
I am not usually a fan of coercing a board to match the irregularities of the wall, since all you do is draw the eye to the fault. It is much easier to "see" a wafty skirting that it is irregularities in an area of plaster.
If you fix the board at the high points, and fill between the top of the board and the wall, it usually looks much nicer as long as the wall is not massively out.
Normal way - or rather the way this house was built in Victorian times - is vertical battens. Obviously lined up so the skirting is flat. And the same on the stud walls.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.