Replacing badly mitred skirtings in house

[Markymark]

Hi

I am wanting to replace the Skirtings in my old house. The last owner had fitted most of them himself and filled between the mitres. I am wondering what way a proffesional joiner would use to fit them and how to cut the internal and external mitres on walls that are out of true.

Any advice welcomed.


Mark

 

[dannykaye]

you only mitre outside corners, have a look at http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/feature/how-fit-skirting-boards

 

[RussianRouter]

To get a true mitred corner one has to use a mitre gauge as all corners of a room are not equal to the build.

Your best bet is to profile them in the skirting and as suggested mitre the outside ones only,

 

[Markymark]

Great advice.

I have seen a lot of construction carpenters do internal mitres and they make it look so easy.

Mark

 

[Jake]

Internal mitres are just wrong.

 

[mtr1]

I've done a fair bit of skirting before....scribe the internals....mitre the externals.......mitred internal corners look dung IMO.

 

[mtr1]

[Quote = " Marky Mark " ] Great advice .

I Have seen a lot of Construction Carpenter do internal miter AND THEY make it look so easy .

Mark [ / quote]

Must be a regional thing , never seen it myself.

 

[Eric The Viking]

[Quote = " Marky Mark " ] Great advice .

I Have seen a lot of Construction Carpenter do internal miter AND THEY make it look so easy .

Mark [ / quote]

Must be a regional thing , never seen it myself.

Not round here (Bristol). Perhaps in the new estates, but in older houses you always scribe joints. And undercut the mitres on the outside corners.

That's if you're doing it properly. Mitred joints would look fine on internal corners, until the wood started moving about some months later (when the chippie was long gone).

I guess you might get away with it using that plastic-faced MDF stuff but I'm not sure I'd want that in the house.

PS: when scribing, undercut a bit at the back - it makes it far easier to get a nice fit. On narrow boards (<10") you can cut an internal mitre first, as the line it makes intersecting with the face is obviously the one to follow with the coping saw. I've not done it successfully with wide boards (ours go from 13" down to 9" upstairs - not uncommon in older places, and the top part of the moulding downstairs is planted to make them look thicker than they actually are).

Almost forgot: of course you only have to scribe the actual moulding. The flat bit of the board below can be cut with a tenon saw, and usually marked with a square caught on the top edge (don't use the floor edge in case you've scribed that!).

 

[Markymark]

Ok Here goes....


I'll report back if I get in to difficulty.

Thank for the advise.

Mark

 

[joiner_sim]

I've been working on a few new builds recently, and the internal scribe is still the way its done, and mitred on the externals.

 

[Triggaaar]

I've just made my own mdf skirting. Mitred the externals, scribed the internals, and mitred joints on straight runs.

 

[Dibs-h]

Great advice.

I have seen a lot of construction carpenters do internal mitres and they make it look so easy.

Mark

Nowadays with houses built on the dead cheap - I would be surprised if the skirting\etc was not primed (& perhaps pre-painted) MDF. In which case it would make perfect sense to mitre internal corners & subsequently caulk it.

If they were timber on the other hand, bit daft for them not to be scribed.

Dibs

 

[laird]

Re-floored an 1800's 4th floor tenement flat in the west end of Glasgow a couple of years ago. Nothing, absolutely nothing square or level. Mitred all internal (and external) skirtings. Why? 'cause I could. Did it take much longer? No. Did the owner like it? Yes, very much.

 

[rileytoolworks]

Re-floored an 1800's 4th floor tenement flat in the west end of Glasgow a couple of years ago. Nothing, absolutely nothing square or level. Mitred all internal (and external) skirtings. Why? 'cause I could. Did it take much longer? No. Did the owner like it? Yes, very much.

Yeah, but when the skirting shrinks and opens up those mitres, will they still be happy.
And why would it take LONGER?

 

[laird]

Two years ago Riley, I think they'd have shrunk by now if they were going to. Mitring on non square walls is more fiddly than scribing, so has the potential to take much longer. As previously said it seems to be a regional thing, or was a regional thing when the guys that showed us "how to" were taught.

 

[matt]

I don't understand why someone would ever consider mitring an internal except where the depth of the skirting is deeper than normal and the butt joint is visible. I've never come across an internal mitre when removing old skirting - including some very old properties.