Would you expect joinery shop skirting to bow??

[the_g_ster]

Morning all, not posted for a while, but have a curious one.

I am doing an extension in a 1937 born house. Got a local joinery shop, that does some fancy shop fitting and more basic stuff to copy the existing skirting.

12m of it is about 220 quid, they phoned me monday to say that I absolutely must pick it up on tuesday when it's ready and could I pay now over the phone. I said no, I wanna see it first, and make sure it's all straight and not bowed. They said ahhh, that's an issue, you need to pick it up straight away else it will bow....

Work got in the way so only able to get a car with roof bars and get down to collect thursday. They are less than happy with me and quite aggressive on the phone. The joinery manager is going to phone me back as I have said that I don't want to be paying for something that looks great when it leaves their shop, but in a few days when I stick it to the wall it looks like a banana!

Thoughts?

 

[Jacob]

Morning all, not posted for a while, but have a curious one.

I am doing an extension in a 1937 born house. Got a local joinery shop, that does some fancy shop fitting and more basic stuff to copy the existing skirting.

12m of it is about 220 quid, they phoned me monday to say that I absolutely must pick it up on tuesday when it's ready and could I pay now over the phone. I said no, I wanna see it first, and make sure it's all straight and not bowed. They said ahhh, that's an issue, you need to pick it up straight away else it will bow....

Work got in the way so only able to get a car with roof bars and get down to collect thursday. They are less than happy with me and quite aggressive on the phone. The joinery manager is going to phone me back as I have said that I don't want to be paying for something that looks great when it leaves their shop, but in a few days when I stick it to the wall it looks like a banana!

Thoughts?

Long lengths planed will bow very quickly. Shouldn't be a prob when you fit it to the walls.

 

[the_g_ster]

Apologies Jacob, I meant cupping over the face of the board.

 

[Jacob]

Apologies Jacob, I meant cupping over the face of the board.

Depends how much cupped. Is it unusable? If they've re-sawn thicker stuff and then machined it without giving it a bit of drying out time first, then they've made a mistake.

 

[Alasdair]

At £18-00 odd a metre I would want it perfect. I have lenghths of standard skirting that are years old and they are slightly bowed but no cupping. Sounds as if it started cupping quite quickly after machining and they wanted it out of there shop as quick as poss. Once you pay for it and you take it away they could say it was the way you stored it etc. If its not perfect I would tell them to keep it (or other words) and look for another company.
Alasdair

 

[RobinBHM]

Apologies Jacob, I meant cupping over the face of the board.

It will cup wherever you buy it from

ex 25 x 200 boards from unsorted redwood will be through and through and will naturally cup -the boards are probably cupped in sawn form and putting them through a 4 sided planer moulder will tend to flatten the board which will spring back as it comes out -its pretty difficult to avoid

personally I would machine softwood with the smiley face away from the wall so the boards will cup to create a gap in the middle not top and bottom

Im not entirely surprised the joinery company are pizzed off -youve told you might not pay for it, that doesnt go down well.

£220 for 12 metres of match to existing is a pretty good price -if they have had a cutter ground for the job, they will be making about £65+vat from that (£85+vat for a set of cutters, £35=vat for timber )

 

[doctor Bob]

W

Morning all, not posted for a while, but have a curious one.

I am doing an extension in a 1937 born house. Got a local joinery shop, that does some fancy shop fitting and more basic stuff to copy the existing skirting.

12m of it is about 220 quid, they phoned me monday to say that I absolutely must pick it up on tuesday when it's ready and could I pay now over the phone. I said no, I wanna see it first, and make sure it's all straight and not bowed. They said ahhh, that's an issue, you need to pick it up straight away else it will bow....

Work got in the way so only able to get a car with roof bars and get down to collect thursday. They are less than happy with me and quite aggressive on the phone. The joinery manager is going to phone me back as I have said that I don't want to be paying for something that looks great when it leaves their shop, but in a few days when I stick it to the wall it looks like a banana!

Thoughts?

Did you specify a timber for them to run it out of?

 

[deema]

It really needs undercoating / sealing as quickly as possible. Not only will it probably be slab sawn as already mentioned, but a deeply machined area will cause uneven tension in the stuff and it will move. So to answer your question, yes I would expect to pick it up immediately, and for it to move but I‘d be ready with brush or spray gun in hand To seal it as soon as it got home. Sealant in both sides.
Why didn’t you get it made out of MRMDF? Im Assuming it will be painted.

 

[thetyreman]

I wouldn't pay for it either until seen in person...

 

[Doug71]

I used to have a 4 cutter and a 5 cutter, made 1000's of feet of skirting and yes it will cup. As Deema said any deep machined areas can cause movement, often on Torus style you find the moulded bit at the top leans forward leaving a gap to the wall despite the bottom of the skirting being tight to the wall.

Trying to do mitred external corners with cupped skirting is a good way to raise your blood pressure.

I know people dislike MDF but it makes good skirting.

 

[RobinBHM]

I am surprised the joinery shop didnt take payment with order -it is normal practice is to take payment with order on specials

 

[the_g_ster]

I paid the deposit of 60.

The profile is not deep at all, it's a very very simple profile, only around 5 cm down from top of skirting, minimal material off.

 

[clogs]

that price is pretty standard but if u want perfection u should have stipulated 1/4 sawn boards.....
the price of that will make ur eyes water....lol.....
I used to make hundreds of feet of custom skirting/trim for the expats in France.....
I would only use my stock for the above reason.....
all my wood was stickered and at least five years old before machineing started.....

 

[MARK.B.]

Perhaps a little fault on both sides here The potential for cupping soon after milling should have been explained to you before ordering and maybe some advice as to the material best suited for your job ,be that man made MDF or such like or solid wood . No idea of your knowledge or experience working with either type of material but did you consider or ask for their advice before ordering? They could have asked you pick it up as soon as poss because they know from experience that wood will move once it has been milled , left waiting for collection for even a few days it will move to the conditions around it, and these will not in a lot of cases be ideal. so the best place will be in your house not the warehouse . Most milled to order items at the timber yard/mill i worked in were shipped out or collected within 24 hours of the work being done.

 

[Spectric]

You don't say what wood was used, I made some heavily profiled pieces to cap of my wood paneling and no issues at all using sapele but then the wood was left inside for a couple of weeks before I ran it through the router. I have had more issues with redwood, that can be a lot more unpredictable.

 

[RobinBHM]

You don't say what wood was used, I made some heavily profiled pieces to cap of my wood paneling and no issues at all using sapele but then the wood was left inside for a couple of weeks before I ran it through the router. I have had more issues with redwood, that can be a lot more unpredictable.

I assumed being skirting it was softwood, in which case it would be unsorted sideboards -highly prone to cupping

 

[baldkev]

Go see it.
Take a straight edge but be kind, they are working with natural material.
One option to reduce stress for both of you, might be to get 2 saw kerfs run through the back of the boards lengthways, say 10mm under the profile and 50mm up from the bottom..... this will relieve some tension and make fitting a bit more flexible.
If the thickness was 20mm, 10mm depth of cut should be safe enough? Thoughts from others most welcome

 

[Spectric]

I assumed being skirting it was softwood, in which case it would be unsorted sideboards -highly prone to cupping

I thought they may have used better wood, or decent wood may have been requsted as it is a more traditional property but then re-read post and they do shop fitting so probably use more man made boards and stuff than wood and a lot of kit stuff.

 

[baldkev]

Worth adding to my post, when fixing, avoid putting fixings through the saw kerfs

 

[RobinBHM]

Go see it.
Take a straight edge but be kind, they are working with natural material.
One option to reduce stress for both of you, might be to get 2 saw kerfs run through the back of the boards lengthways, say 10mm under the profile and 50mm up from the bottom..... this will relieve some tension and make fitting a bit more flexible.
If the thickness was 20mm, 10mm depth of cut should be safe enough? Thoughts from others most welcome

Very good point - I meant to mention stress relief grooves but forgot.

generally the grooves are 1/4 to 1/3 of the thickness - say 6mm or 7mm