I bought some torus skirting from Wickes, which looked pretty straight when I bought it, but most of it's bowed and warped. I did apply some wood stain to it, to match the wood floor we just put down. Is this warping to be expected from softwood skirting, and so would it be better to use solid oak skirting?
skirting advice
Jul 15, 2006
7 Replies
How long before you put it in place and did you lay it flat and put something heavy on it?
I'd take it back and buy from a proper timber merchant. If it's machined out of decent material at the right moisture content, it should stay flat, especially at this time of year.
Got it about 3 weeks ago. No I didn't lay it flat with something heavy on it. Should I have?
Yep,to stop it warping. Whenever I've bought wood its always on the day I'm going to use it...or the day before. If I cant use the wood in a day or two from buying it, then I lay it flat and put an heavy object or something to keep it from warping.
On Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:33:38 +0100, snipped-for-privacy@bigmailbox.net wrote (in article ):
Is the floor of oak?
If so, a softwood skirting is going to spoil the look unless you are going to paint the skirting.
Certainly oak skirting is available, although probably not from places like Wickes. It should be laid flat in the room where it is going to be used for some time before fitting. That should then be done using screws in counterbored holes filled with wooden plugs.
Rather the reverse I'd say. It's probably kiln dried below ambient...humidity, which *inside* a house, peaks at this time of year,.
The cost of kilning below 15% would be prohibitive for a Wickes product I would have thought. Either way 6" x 1" shouldn't distort when it moves. It will lose 3mm in shrinking from 17% to 10% but should stay flat if it's decent material.
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