Fixing skirting boards

[Wilson joinery]

Hi all, I’m just wondering how you go about fixing skirting boards to solid walls. I’ve always used rawl plugs and screws which is a painfully slow process, is there an easier way? Would a 16 gauge nailer attach the skirting to a solid wall (brickwork/blockwork)?

Cheers
Pete

 

[deema]

No more nails, quick, simple and you can also use it to caulk the top by adding a bead to the upper edge.

 

[Jacob]

Hi all, I’m just wondering how you go about fixing skirting boards to solid walls. I’ve always used rawl plugs and screws which is a painfully slow process, is there an easier way? Would a 16 gauge nailer attach the skirting to a solid wall (brickwork/blockwork)?

Cheers
Pete

Masonry screws are handy. masonry screws - Google Search

 

[eribaMotters]

I used liquid nails and a second fix nail gun to fix skirts and architraves when I fitted our last house. Some nails di not go into the brickwork so I left them until the glue had gone off and pulled them out. Those that did not pull snapped, so I nail punched them below the surface. A few odd masonary nails were also needed. Far easier than screws and plugs.

Colin

 

[vaj]

Adhesives regardless of what the practice in some places is or what the glue makers claim are a recipe for future problems.

The board will stay put for long enough for the installer to get down the road and maybe even out of whatever warranty might apply - and half the time new home owners are clueless enough to not recognise a short cut. Not until a few boards have fallen off.

Differential movement must before too long cause failure. The latter usually in the plaster underneath.

Masonry nails can appear to work well on block walls - until you end up trying to nail through a pebble in the concrete.

A good hammer drill and power driver set up shouldn't be all that slow..

 

[Bingy man]

Screws and plugs for me as this method has never let me down. I simply use an old 5 mm wood but and drill straight through the skirting board into the wall to mark it then remove the board and drill the marked holes into the wall with a 7 mm bit and plug and fit .

 

[sy-]

I've just removed some that were glued on about 20 years ago judging by the previous home owners markings!

earlier today I attached some to another room with adhesive (sticks like s*hit from evo stick) and 18 guage nailed them just to hold them while the glue sticks.

if they last half the time the previous ones have I'll be happy!

 

[Dave Moore]

Hi all, I’m just wondering how you go about fixing skirting boards to solid walls. I’ve always used rawl plugs and screws which is a painfully slow process, is there an easier way? Would a 16 gauge nailer attach the skirting to a solid wall (brickwork/blockwork)?

Cheers
Pete

A joiner told me the other week not to use non solvent no nails type glues on plaster as it won’t stick. took about 5 seconds to take some off my daughters house that a cowboy stuck on with non solvent.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You need few screws - I've fixed an 18' board with three screws. Find the hollows in the wall, put your screws there and use adhesive all the way along. Use single moulded board if you can find it.

I once took four inch bullnose skirtings out of a bungalow that were dovetail nailed with Obos every foot - I don't know who the original fitter thought was going to attempt to steal them.

 

[clogs]

bite the bullet n use screws.....I counter bore the screw holes and plug after fixing......
been a few times I needed to remove the skirting after a couple of years....
It's easy with screws.....
u can buy hammer fit screws n plugs if ur feeling lazy......useless in block wall tho.....
succesfully used "no-nails" on picture and dado rails tho....

 

[owen]

I use multifix and 18 gauge brads on mdf skirting, the same on solid wood skirting on stud walls and then use concrete screws on solid wood skirting on solid walls. 15mm forstener bit to countersink the head then cut wooden plugs to cover it.

 

[vaj]

To expand a little on the adhesive problem.

The thought of whacking a board up with a few beads of adhesive is always going to be attractive, but it's living dangerously if used alone. It's not even going to be much faster than a good drilling and screwing or nailing set up.

Plaster just isn't strong enough to always be able to handle the forces involved in wood movement - it can shear in the layer behind the adhesive. It may not a lot of the time depending on the start condition of the wood and the house, but it can and will (and does) in specific circumstances..

The other issue is the potential for surface problems. Plaster can depending on how it was handled end up with layer of calcium dust on the surface. The stuff needs to be cleaned and sealed with a penetrating primer before painting - I've seen emulsion paint applied raw literally fall off newly plastered walls.

None of these things happen all of the time - it's no problem to find and to point to cases where (at least until now) an adhesive has been OK.

A screwed or masonry nailed skirting on a masonry wall if done right will very likely not have budged anywhere in 40 years - I'm looking at an example as I speak.

A quick walk a few years later around a typical house thrown up in a development where corners were cut and adhesive only was used very often shows examples of sections of skirting and architrave that have opened a gap at the edges and/or fallen off.

The problem with adhesives in the general sense is the potential for the substrate and for small and uncontrolled changes in it to cause failures, and also with some types (e.g. epoxies) for problems to arise as a consequence of poor conditions during the cure.

This happens even in tightly controlled industrial environments, and is the fundamental reason why more products are not simply glued together...

 

[Spectric]

If using more fancy skirting, (baseboard) then you can initially fit some wood to the wall with plugs and screws then attach your skirting to these just using brads or pins which leaves very little marks to fill and a more solid looking skirting rather than something that has been scrimped on.

 

[thetyreman]

the key is using high quality wall plugs like ones made by fischer duopower, they are well worth the extra £££, then I always plug the screw holes with solid wood tapered plugs, it's a lot easier and less time consuming than filling in the screw holes with filler which always shrinks a bit.

 

[niall Y]

Years ago, when I first started out, the routine for fixing skirting to solid walls in old properties was to drill through the skirting with a thin masonry bit to mark the positions on the wall, This was followed by drilling the wall with a larger diameter masonry bit, before hammering in shaped wooden plugs, and cutting them off flush with the plaster, The skirting was then fixed with cut nails. This always gave a solid fix.

Now, of course I screw and plug - so much more convenient.

In the Victorian property, where I used to live, a much more elaborate method had been used. The skirtings were made up of three parts which were nailed to a 2"x1" sawn timber framework that had been plumbed vertical and true, and fixed to the wall before any plastering This was nailed onto rectangular wooden blocks set into the uprights between the brickwork. Various lime -plaster undercoats had then been applied, bringing it flush with the sawn timber frame. Only then was the skirting fitted, which included joining the internal corners with a vertical narrow housing on one board, and a tongue on the other. When fitted, this was followed by a final skim of lime plaster.

Such a chasm ............ from this to 'No-Nails'

 

[Doug71]

For me it depends on the walls and the type and size of skirting, sometimes screwed, sometimes nailed and sometime glued. If gluing I normally use the polymer based stuff like fix-all, gluing somehow seems to suit MDF skirting but not solid wood.

Some people use the foam type adhesive these days but I haven't tried that yet.

 

[mr rusty]

If on to smooth surface, a grab adhesive. If on to a rough/gappy surface, then foam adhesive. Modern high performance adhesives are designed to do the jobs they are designed for. Why wouldn't you? They glue aircraft together these days! Used properly, they won't be coming off, and no nail/screw holes to fill.

 

[johnnyb]

I usually use timber plugs in old houses ( victorian/ edwardian)















I glue mdf stuff( after paint) using hybrid silicone or foam. hybrid silicone is really perfect strengh strong but removable.

 

[Bob Chapman]

I’m confused. According to some replies above an adhesive is no good because it doesn’t move with the wood and eventually fails. But…nails or screws don’t move with the wood, do they? So why don’t they cause similar problems?
I’m not a joiner/builder and have only ever fixed skirtings in my own home. I used that white bathroom sealant stuff - the sort that smells of vinegar as it cures and remains flexible even when fully cured. Last time was about ten years ago and they are still firmly fixed to the plaster. Presumably the adhesive allows the wood to move?

 

[deema]

@Bob Chapman The traditional way of fitting skirting was to drive wooden wedges into the wall and then to nail the skirting to the wedges. Plastic Plugs, masonry screws and adhesives that could stick it didn’t exist. Nails will bend under pressure and are a common fixing for anything that is likely to move a lot, ie outside stuff. However, these days in modern central heated homes the extremes of moisture isn’t as much of an issue. Wooden skirtings expand very little along the grain, and as such any form of fastening isn’t likely to cause an issue. The biggest issues are with cupping hich no matter what the fastening, it’s going to move.

I personally prefer MRMDF skirting it doesn’t move or cup.