I find gripfill skins too fast. By the time I'm running my second bead the first one is starting to skin, the water-based no-more-nails seems to be better but maybe doesn't give such a strong bond. I work fairly quickly but can only manage gripfill on very short lengths.
I won't address plugging and varnishing - you've had plenty of replies already on that.
The best way to re-fix skirting boards neatly that I have come across was posted by Jonathan Marsters back in 1996. See
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have recently re-fixed some 7" skirting based on this idea, and although it took me a lot longer that the 'just bang or glue em on' merchants, it did produce a dead straight run in both the horizontal and vertical planes.
To get the skirting in a straight run, as well as vertical, I put in a row of support screws as per Jonathan's idea, then ran a piece of string across the heads from left to right. I then adjusted the heads in and out to get them all lined up.
In my case there was no plaster to support the top edge of the board so I used a pair of support screws at each location to support and align both the top and bottom edges, and then fixed the board with a third screw between these two. Note that with modern reversible skirting, you need to be careful to locate suitable flat places on the backside of the board, where it will bear on these screw heads. This is because there is an alternative moulding on the rear which will occupy the lowest two inches or so.
There is a general problem when screwing boards to a wall, in that you need the hole through the board to exactly line up with the plug in the wall which you cannot see when the board is being fixed! The solution is to drill a pilot through the board first, making sure it is in front of a solid brick, and not a mortar gap. Then take a long masonry drill of the screw pilot diameter (or a little less) and drill right through the skirting into the wall. Finally, remove the skirting and open up the pilot hole in the wall with the final size masonry drill to suit the rawlplug.
It's the same argument as when you wallpaper a room and get it a bit wrong. The person who does it knows where the wrong part is and it grates on them.
- Sticking it to the wall implies either sticking it to the surface of a plaster skim coat or plasterboard. These are not really strong surfaces. The alternative is to cut the plasterboard at the top of the skirting level and stand the skirting off from it on blocks. Then you can't really stick it.
- If you need to remove the skirting you can't.
- If the skirting has a tendency to twist, which it may well, then it will be pulling away from the wall.
- If the wall isn't perfectly straight it will be difficult to maintain it in position while it is being stuck.
- If I use counterbored holes and screws and plugs, I can overcome all of the above issues.
Aesthetic issues.
- If I make a wooden construction, I can nail it together, screw it, biscuit joint it or use another joint like a box or dovetail. These range in terms of strength and visual appeal. The box and dovetail joints give good strength and look aesthetically appealing as well. So given that it is desirable to achieve the practical objectives above by using screws to fasten the skirting board, it then makes sense to use a method which produces a neat visual appearance and where the concealing plugs can be removed if need be.
with a slight convex profile to the side I had chosen to go against the wall.
Also you can offer up 2 boards that have been mitred to fit against each other and continue to adjust the backing screws till it looks just right. Then attach them to the wall.
In a Travel Inn in Prtsmouth I found myself feeling smug and superior at the at the state of the ill fitting skirting as I killed time. And in a Pizza Hut awaiting the order I found myself scanning the trim around the counter and looking at the wonkyness and big gaps all over the place. I havnt been back:)
Gripfil is about the stickiest thing after silicone and, spread across the area of a skirting board, the bond is massive. The board would do its job without any fixings at all except that it would keep falling over. It's why you don't nail carpet to the floor.
True, though laminate flooring is the only reason I can think of to remove it.
Good quality skirting shouldn't twist. Of course it shrinks, but twist is predictable and any decent merchant will select the right material for the job. If it distorts in his yard, which it may well do in a warm summer, he is stuck with unsaleable stock.
The main function of Gripfil is to grip the wall *and* fill the voids. What you shouldn't do IMO is try and persuade a straight board to follow a pissed wall because you're leaving the wood under tension which will tend to split over time. Also, skirting and picture rail are good for creating the illusion of straightness in a room but the plaster/filler has to follow the moulding rather than the other way round.
If your method *is* the chosen objective, then your method of concealing it is the only option. A neighbour of mine insists on using 1" screws to hang pictures when a picture hook would not only suffice, but would be more elegant precisely because it isn't so secure.
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