Question on skirting fitting on undulating wall

Michael Kilpatrick · 2023-07-08T17:42:13+00:00

Hello all, I've had a laminate floor put down in my study after stripping and repainting the walls (some plasterboard, some solid brick and plaster) and adding two surface sockets with cable trunking behind where the desks will be.I've had some lovely sepele hardwood cut to match the other skirting in the house (mostly the original 1960s parquet). The skirting is about 40mm tall, a simple taper.The floorers gave me the number of someone to fit the skirting (I'd make a mess of the mitres if I tried myself). But he has talked about gluing it rather than screwing/nailing.What should I consider? I ask because:I didn't realise until too late that one of the plasterboard walls has a massive undulation in the bottom 20cm or so over a distance of 50cm ish. Offering up the skirting requires quite a bend, as the gap is nearly 1cm at the worst.I was considering trying to partially straighten out this bit of wall with a bit of filler but maybe it's to big an area and too deep. Is there a product best suited for slapping on top of an undulation without too much hackery?Is gluing the skirting on such a curve going to result in it exerting such a force that it pulls the paint off the plaster? Should I ask this chippie to make sure it's fixed by other means?Michael

Jul 08, 2023 Last reply: 3 years ago 23 Replies

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RJH 3 years ago

I find those difficult to cut neatly, and took a chance with mitre cuts on MDF skirting. Didn't have a problem with gaps over several years, even on the long runs.

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alan_m 3 years ago

The problem is often the mitre is not 45 degrees, especially on some older properties where the corners are not 90 degrees and a ceiling can slope by perhaps 5cm over the length of a room.

As others have suggested painting the same colour on walls and any filling can disguise imperfections.

In the past I have seen some horrendous decoration using wallpaper with a well defined vertical pattern on chimney breasts or in the narrow alcoves when the walls haven't been plumb. With a sloping ceiling don't paint a picture rail a different colour to the wall.

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John Rumm 3 years ago

The cope cut solves two problems - the corner being slightly out of square, and hiding the effects of wood shrinkage (which in effect changes the angle of the mitre). If you were using MDF then that solves the second problem anyway. Out of square you can deal with by measuring carefully and cutting a bastard mitre if required.

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wrights... 3 years ago

That agrees completely with my experience. Bill

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