I am planning to replace skirting boards by screwing, countersinking and filling over the screw head. However I want to varnish (using a dark oak coloured varnish) rather than paint the skirting, will the filler be very visible through the varnish? Also, roughly how many screws are required per metre and how far up the skirting should the screws be fixed? I am using 7" torus skirting.
TIA
Skyblue
A better solution if you are going to do this is to cut wooden plugs from the material used for the skirting board, matching the different colours as well as you can. Then use a counterbore bit to drill the holes for the screws in the skirting.
Fix the skirting to the wall - 2 screws per metre or so should be enough.
Then apply some glue to the plugs and tap them gently into place.
Finally when the glue is dry, cut off the plugs flush with a flush cutting saw and lightly sand.
You will thn be able to varnish and have nearly invisible plugs which will take the stain and varnish. Even where the plugs do show, they will not look out of place.
Plug cutters fit a bench drill or even hand drill if you are careful and can drill perpendicular. You can buy these and the counterbore bits as pairs of a given size. You drill with the plug cutter and then pop the plugs out with a screwdriver.
Axminster Power Tools part 300532 is a typical set.
or
Before staining the skirting find/borrow a felt tip pen near to the colour of the stain and fill in the filler with the pen you will hardly notice it when stained, particulary if its dark oak your staining the skirting.
Yup, I second that...
Or if you want a cheap solution that will do a room full of skirting and probably not much more:
snaggers will notice. Cut the plugs as you need them from the offcut of the piece you just used and note the spacing of the grain.
For a job that will look just as good; hire a nail gun and use mastic glue. (Of course this depends on what you are fixing the boards to. It will handle anything up to soft brick. It may baulk at some concrete blocks but I doubt it.)
Bore a hole with a 1/2" auger bit (or whatever) part way through, screw through, stick in a plug cut with a 1/2" plug cutter. Chisel off surplus, then rub flat.
No! Stain the timber with *spirit based* wood dye, let it dry, then use clear varnish. Coloured varnish chips, and the timber shows through under.
Plugs won't - if you use filler, make sure that it is the sort that accepts stain. You might care to use a little knotting on the screw head before filling to stop bleed through.
I should put a screw in every 18" or so, just below the moulding. and one every so far near the bottom.
Are you fixing straight into the wall, on on "battens"?
I'd notice. If a job is worth doing, I think that it should be done well.
Exactly. This matches the colour reasonably as well.
Hmmm.. Don't like this. For wide skirting especially it seems like a bodge.
Traditonal is best - just use nails into wooden plugs or battens behind. Nail in the quirk out of sight (the acute angle in the moulding). More nails nearer to the middle of the board if necessary to pull the skirting in - punch in and fill - they are then virtually invisible. 7inch torus fairly hefty so use 3inch nails.
cheers
Jacob
================= You could use 'plastic wood' as filler. You can buy it in different colours (B&Q, Focus etc) to match the wood you're filling. This isn't as good as the plugging method described by other respondents but it's cheaper and almost invisible if you're careful.
Cic.
None of you is a Gripfil fan then! I can't believe anyone would go through all that drilling and plugging and filling lark when a tube of that stuff does the job better and quicker. The big advantage to me is it ensures the board is straight and not being pushed and pulled all over the place by the fixings.
Not for that job, Stuart.
I am not sure that either is true.
If the wall and the board are straight (as they should be) then this is not at issue.
Gripfill has its applications, but IMHO, fixing skirting boards is a bodged one.
It has its moments...
but I also recall cursing the poxy twisted wonky skirting you get these days when you need a few screws to pull it into some semblance of "straight" ;-)
(just off to gripfill a length of skirting to a wall I covered with an extra 30mm layer of foiled PIR foam under the plasterboard... can't remember where the studs are, and my Zircon can't see through the metallised foil! ;-) )
I don't think anyone can dispute that it's quicker, and a surface free of holes and filler has to look better. It will certainly be firmly fixed to the wall and any voids will be filled, so how can you improve on that?
Yes.
Why not glue it?
Actually, its about the only use I can think of for the stuff. I hate it, but for fixing skirtings its a very good method.
spend money on straight bits, not on plug cutters then.
Exactly.
Well car body filler maybe..;-)
I wish it was that easy ;-)
It may be striaght when you buy it, but that does not mean it will be by the time it has acclimatised to its new surroundings and you want to fit it.
Very true, thats why I buy it on the same day I'm going to fit it. :-)
If you cant fit it straight away, lying it down flat and putting heavy objects at various intervals along the wood keeps it from warping, also keep away from heating areas(radiators).
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