Bottom of skirting board uneven and unsightly

[Charlie]

We are planning on sanding down the floor in our bedroom and although the floorboards are in good condition there are parts of the skirting board where the bottom edge is a mess and will look pretty unsightly against a sanded floor.

It's not a great picture but you can see here what I mean:

be fair it looks worse in real life than in the photo :-)

Is there anything I can do apart from replace the skirting board or fill the gap with filler (would this be hard-wearing enough)?

Charlie

[fred]

mean:

To be fair it looks worse in real life than in the photo :-)

I'd replace the skirting after you've sanded and finished the floor. You might think about priming and painting the skirting before fitting it also though ISTR pre primed skirting is readily available.

Paul Mc Cann

Paul Mc Cann

[Charlie]

nypic.com/35ivehc.jpg

Hi Paul,

I may be wrong but would it better to decorate the room first before sanding a floor. The reasoning being that it's a lot easier to get dust off dry walls than paint off a sanded floor. The other thing, that I should have mentioned is that the walls are papered (just lining paper mind you).

Charlie

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Looks like there's been some shrinkage somewhere. To get a nice clean edge would really mean removing it and either replacing with new, or planing to get a decent edge then adding a strip of wood. Or you could just add some sort of fillet piece to cover the gap - but this won't look so good IMHO.

[Steven Campbell]

Hi Paul,

I may be wrong but would it better to decorate the room first before sanding a floor. The reasoning being that it's a lot easier to get dust off dry walls than paint off a sanded floor. The other thing, that I should have mentioned is that the walls are papered (just lining paper mind you).

Charlie

------------------

I'd definitely sand the floor first as the amount of dust is unbelievable. You wouldn't be painting with the floor uncovered surely? Just make sure you have some polythene sheets down below your dust sheets and nothing will get through to the floor.

If only I'd taken my own advice as I stupidly moved a ladder with a large tin of emulsion on it once and it fell to the floor and landed on my sanded and unprotected floor. It was frightening to look at but wiped up fine.

[Charlie]

=A0 London SW

Sounds like it would less work to just replace the skirting then. Got a feeling it's going to be a bit of bugger to find some 11in skirting that looks similar to the other stuff in the house :-(

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sounds like it's an old house with skirting that size. And to make it look like new again will be a lot of work. But it can be done - remove, repair and replace - if you really want to.

[geraldthehamster]

=A0 =A0 London SW

I wouldn't. Finding matching skirting would be expensive (you'd probably have to get it made), and fitting shorter skirting would be a shame. In a similar situation I covered the gap with 15mm quarter round beading (use 22mm if the gap is really large), stained and varnished to match the sanded floor. Looked OK and I kept the tall skirting. Or you could paint the beading in with the skirting if you preferred.

Cheers Richard

[Charlie]

=A0 London SW

Yeah, it's a victorian flat, some sections of the skirting have been replaced (mid wall) so it doesn't look great at the moment to my eye (although SWMBO has never noticed). I think I might be better off deciding which skirting looks good and is easily available as I'll probably end up replacing it in the other rooms as well eventually. At least it will all match by then.

[geraldthehamster]

=A0 =A0 London SW

You might consider building up tall skirting with a tall board, a thinner, lower board in front and a moulding on top. You could even save money and do it in MDF.

Cheers Richard

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There were bits of mine (also Victorian) missing or badly damaged - and then I knocked through the two ground floor rooms. The skirting was actually made out of three pieces, and only the top moulding was 'special'. Took a bit to my local wood working shop and they made up a cutter to run some off. It wasn't particularly cheap, but once repaired properly will last a long time. And it does look good. Luckily I enjoy the challenge of such things.

[Charlie]

=A0 =A0 London SW

Hi Richard,

I sort of have a pet hate for beading (no offence) it just screams at me when ever I see it. Usually because it deteriorates before the floor/skirting. Although in our lounge we do have a 5cmx1cm "bead" at the bottom of the skirting where someone has laid a laminate floor. To be honest it's so big that you forget it's actually a bead that's been added on and almost looks like it's part of the skirting. Maybe this is going to be the way forward?

Charlie

[Phil L]

Is that a cement skirting? It doesn't look like wood to me and cement skirtings were common in Victorian houses.

Either way, I would just use exterior grade filler aqnd paint over, most of it will be behind the carpet

[Steven Campbell]

My first thought on seeing the picture was that was cement of some sorts as well. I think the sanding of the floor is to do away with the carpet but could be wrong.

[robgraham]

=A0 London SW

+1 - I needed a skirting with effectively a cavity to run CH pipes in so built mouldings onto plain pine board.

Rob

[geraldthehamster]

If it's cement then it's an easy repair. Could well be cement, can we have a picture that shows the whole thing up to the top?

Cheers Richard

[Charlie]

Hi Richard,

Ok, you're right I've had a close look at the skirting board and

*some* parts are cement (from bottom to top) and other parts are wood which seem to have had the bottom inch "filled". This filled section has cracked away. I've tried to show this in the following photos

Charlie

[geraldthehamster]

Looks like a bit of a mess to me. Having seen it, I think I'd be tempted to replace it, if you can get it off.

Cheers Richard

[NT]

pic.com/35ivehc.jpg

Saw teh bottom off using a table circular saw so you get a good straight edge, and glue on a bit of fresh timber - or even omit that if you dont mind it being an inch lower. Align front edges properly of course.

NT

[geraldthehamster]

mean:

To be fair it looks worse in real life than in the photo :-)

If you're thinking of replacing, search this group for "soldier skirting". It's a traditional method of creating tall skirting, easy to replicate. Fix a 9" high timber (or mdf) to the wall, spaced out one inch on battens, and pin a moulding (e.g. picture rail moulding) to the top.

Cheers Richard