Skirting board woes

[Lobster]

Just been refitting some skirting boards after a re-plastering job

I decided to glue them back, and went through the Toolstation site to find a suitable adhesive. I was aware that the walls weren't perfectly true, so they'd need holding in place to avold gapd along the top edge. I went for Pinkgrip Solvent Based, on account of its description: "Its amazing grabbing strength not only removes the need to pin under the workpiece to prevent slumping, but its revolutionary initial 'direct bond' eliminates the need for double stick methods." which seemed to fit the bill.

So, I squirted the stuff liberally over the back of the skirting (about 3m long) and applied it to the wall. Came straight off; no way would it take even the *slightest* pressure to make it conform to the profile of the wall. Shit - time for screws then. I drilled the board and plugged the wall for 2" screws at the two most strategic points - but by this time the gloop on the board had skinned over and was useless. I scraped it all off, reapplied it, and screwed the board to the wall.

Looks absolutely fine now, its completely firm, no gaps etc. But I'm asking myself, really, what was the point of all that pratting about with Pinkgrip? Not convinced it's made any real difference to the end result; and certainly achieved nothing another couple of screws wouldn't have done (having already broken out the drill etc)

[stuart noble]

I've only ever used Gripfil but IME you invariably need to use more than you thought (I'm thinking 2 cartridges over 3m), and in big blobs rather than evenly distributed. The skirting won't (and nor should it IMO) follow the wall but will leave clearly defined gaps into which you can shovel some plaster or filler. Result is a nice straight skirting and, once painted the same colour as the wall, won't notice.

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well I'll not be doing any of this, but the last time I did, a friend showed me his, and he had embedded some wood into his wall at regular intervals and then used a gynormous staple gun thto go through the skirting into the blocks.

As you say, though, tIt needed a lot of filler as wals are most certainly not flat. Brian

[Tim Watts]

I screwed mine on with 50mm x 5mm stainless woodscrews and plugged the holes (oak, finished in clear coat).

The logic was: If anyone needs to take up the wood floor, they'll need to take the skirting off first. That's easy as the plugs have no glue and will break out cleanly and the screws will not have rusted into the wall.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's how some of the skirtings were originally done in my 1909 house. A piece of timber hammered in place of an inch or so of mortar between bricks, and then the skirting nailed in to it.

Some of the others, they'd managed to hammer a cut nail right into some brick faces. Often wondered how the hell they did that - the bricks are not soft. There was no way I could pull them out - ended up bending them until they snapped off.

[sm_jamieson]

I tried solvent based pink grip too. I remember it as it had a useless card board tube and leaked around the plunger. Also, it skinned over far too soo n and was generally useless - the worst of the bunch. It didn't appear to h ave any of its advertised properties. However, various other random version s of product type have worked OK. Strange.

Simon.

[The Medway Handyman]

That was your problem. You don't make the skirting follow the wall, you leave it straight and fill any gaps with decorators caulk (not filler).

If you then paint the wall and the caulk the same colour it becomes invisible and the skirting looks great.

[Roger Mills]

That's certainly the way if there are small undulations in the wall. But what about if the wall is straight but the skirting isn't? I find that Gripfill will hold ok after a few minutes but, for added security, I sometimes use a long piece of timber jammed against the opposite wall - particularly in narrow passageways - until the goo has cured enough to hold the skirting unaided.

[Tim Watts]

If screwing, I'm happy to persuade the skirting to follow any minor bows in the wall - but only as far as seems reasonable force wise.

[polygonum]

Glad they do.

Some of the skirting here, and some other places where wood should meet plaster (e.g.architrave round doors) as yours apparently do, have always had gaps. Didn't seem to matter how carefully I applied various fillers, they shrank or, over time, cracked and ended up looking bad.

Last time I tackled them, I used Red Devil Onetime Filler (from Toolstation) and another make that was very similar but in a cartridge form. Very easy to use. No sag or flow. Very easy to clean up. Very easy to paint over. And no cracking or shrinking visible even several years later.