Removing skirting

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I need to remove some skirting - preferably with little or no damage. It is Victorian stuff made in three bits - a ornate moulding at the top, a plain bit of wood under that and a high but thin panel overlapping that which goes down to the floor. It's the last bit I need to get off with as little damage as possible.

Some of the walls are brick, others stud, and it's nailed in place with those usual vast Victorian nails which will split anything before letting go, so I'd guess I'll have to cut round them?

[Bob Minchin]

Can you use a small starrett type hole saw to cut out round each nail to remove the bulk of the skirting and then use a wooden plug for the hole when re-fitting. Even if you can get the clasp nails out of the brick work, they will be firmly in the wood and likely to splinter when knocking them through.

[Bert Coules]

Don't hole saws have a central small-size conventional drill bit? Or are Starrett ones different from the type I'm thinking of?

[ARW]

[John Rumm]

To use a holesaw without the pilot, first drill a scrap of ply or other sheet material with the saw. Then remove the pilot and use the scrap of wood as a template to hold the holesaw on target and get it started.

[stuart noble]

In the end they usually respond to a large size wrecking bar. A bolster can get you started, but it's a gradual process If they're the usual cut nails, they can often be persuaded to snap flush with the back of the skirting, which saves filling. Just keep knocking them to and fro till they break

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Excellent, thanks.

[Bert Coules]

Yes, that's what I meant: the name escaped me. Thanks,

John Rumm wrote:

Ah, but on the ones I'm thinking of, the pilot is also the only way that the hole saw can be gripped in a chuck: without it, all you have is a cylinder that's serrated at one end and closed off at the other, apart from a small central hole and a boss with a securing bolt.

There must be more than one type.

[John Rumm]

On most I have seen, the pilot is removable from the arbour:

On mine (similar to that pictured) you just slacken the screw on the side, and can remove the drill bit altogether.

Same on the small ones:

[Bob Eager]

There speaks the expert on "removing skirting"....!

[Bert Coules]

Ah, I see, thanks. I checked my small stock (of two) and they must be real cheapo examples since there is no separate arbour, only an integeral fixed boss-and-bolt arrangement into which the pilot drill slides. And the boss alone is too small to be gripped securely in a chuck, hence my confusion.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What I'd like is a holesaw not much bigger than the nail head - and with teeth hard enough not to be ruined if it hits the nail. And one which produces a hole I can fill using a plug cutter I already have. Which is

5/8ths Most holesaws tend to produce a slightly generous hole, and the plug needs to be a tight-ish fit.

[Bert Coules]

Dave, how many holes do you have to drill? Would a short-life DIY tool from small-diameter tubing with one end filed into teeth do the job?

[Geoff Pearson]

I usually gently lever from behind and refit using screws. The wooden blocks in the wall have usually dried and shrunk so don't hold tightly (compared to layers of gloss paint and wall paper. Filling a neat circular hole will be as bad as the smaller jagged hole from the square nail.

[RobertL]

Also, even if the skirting does split you can glue it together more neatly than you can fill a drilled-out hole.

Also, if you pry it off with a bar you migth find that the nails pull through the board without too much damage.

Also, what about a nail puller - the sort that have a weight that you 'pump' driving the jaws into the wood next to the nail?

Like this:

Robert

[Geoff Pearson]

I agree.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

This stuff is extremely thin - only about 12mm thick and 220mm high. So very easy to split. But I don't want to remove all of the 3 piece skirting

- just this bottom bit, so don't want to pull the wood wedges out of the wall. I'm intending to repair the holes with wood plugs glued in. Then screw it back on.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Got one - but they're pretty brutal devices. Sort of OK for floorboards, but would do too much damage here.

[Geoff Pearson]

That is what mine were like - the top moulding is fixed to the wall but the plank is nailed to the moulding, no the wall. When I put it back I used some long panel pins to make it easier next time. I find a filling knife levers it out without much damage.