How to prevent skirting kicking in at bottom?

[jagfromaus]

Hi folks, I'm certain this question would have been asked at some stage in this forum section however I'm new and its easier for me to ask rather than search through endless threads for an answer.
Im attaching new skirting around the bottom of the walls in a recent extension and want to know what the trick is so that my 67mm colonial skirting doesnt kick in at the bottom due to the recess in the bottom edge of the plasterboard? Not particularily an issue along long sections of the walls but when i get to the door architrave and especially the internal corners it looks crap and the mitres therefore dont line up and the whole join in the corner looks off and requires filling.Im assuming the trick may be to pack the bottom inside edge of the skirt with something to make up for the plasterboard recess? or rebating the top edge of the skirt (which would be a pain in the backside).
Any ideas folks or am i thinking too hard and just live with the kicking in?

[TermiMonster]

You could probably pack it with some masonite packer or even malthoid, or whatever you have available.
You're right, there's no need to live with it.
Cheers
TM

[johnc]

You could also nail some clouts setting the heads level with the sheet and fix next to that. Seems an easy way to pack.

John.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

But I think I'd go with the packing. Using clouts would be alright along the bottom of a wall, I guess, but if it's an area that's gonna get kicked and knocked about, eg. around doors & wall returns, I'd much rather have some good, solid packing.

[pawnhead]

Clouts would be alright if you were gun nailing, but if you were hand nailing you might end up driving them in.
You could use cardboard (not the corrugated stuff). Cut a Cornflakes box into squares, score lines on alternate sides about 20mm apart and concertina fold it to appropriate thickness then sit them on the floor wherever you're fixing and push the skirting against them.
And you should have scribed the internal corners instead of mitering them.

[mikm]

I use either melthoid/dampcourse or strips of melamine veneer (from a cabinet makers scraps bin) as skirting packers. The melamine veneer is good as its about half the thickness of melthoid, so you can fine tune the packing if necessary some times.

If you were short on either of those, I cant see why the compressed cardboard suggestion wouldnt work, but id be wary of clouts moving over time with knocks, kicks etc.

As suggested, you really want to 'cope' one length of skirt into the profile of the other for internal corners. Mitres just never really look right. I like to do it like this:

*If its a new job, the framing chippy or plasterer should have marked the stud locations on the floor. If not, or its and existing place, you'll have to find and mark them first.

*The first piece of skirt just gets a straight cut flush into the corner. Cut this one to length and put in place but don't fix it yet.

*Take a 45deg mitre off the end of the other piece, as you would if mitring the internal corner and then (carefully) follow the line of the cut you just made with a coping or jig saw. This should then fit snugly over the profile of the first piece. If the corner is over 90deg, (and they sometimes are) you'll have to under cut the profile slightly at the back or the front opens up. I usually under cut the first time just in case, to save time.

*Place your nice new end into the corner and then mark and cut the other end to length. If you cut it to length first, its easy to wander a bit when coping and by the time you clean it up, the skirt is too short. If you initially leave it too long, you can re cut it if you stuff it up the first time and still have timber to spare. If the other end is another internal, make this piece the 'square' end of that internal and fit the next section to it. Its a bummer if you do a nice profile cut on the first end, but bugger up the second so you have to do both again.

*Put both both sections in place and check how much packing you need to make it look neat. The middle of long lengths don't matter so much, but corners stick out like the proverbial if they are not right.

*Nail it all home.

Hmm, that ended up being a bit longer than the quick reply I intended. Sorry about that. Hope it helps, though
Mick

[pawnhead]

Good tips.
I'd just add that since it's only 67mm wide, you could just fix down on an angle from about 3/4 the way up the skirt. That should catch the bottom plate without having to locate the studs.
As you mentioned, I'd undercut all the copings, but I'd just cut them all to to measured lengths, adding an extra millimetre or two depending on the length of the piece. They usually bend into place without pushing the archs out, or the coped end bites in if you give the skirt a whack from the end.
If you're doing a house load it saves time just doing one trip to measure, and one trip to fix, without having to mark and cut a second time. Not a good idea for a novice, but for a contractor, time is $.

[Manuka Jock]

Malthoid is the professional way ...

We use it for everything
the benefit of it is , that you can nail thru it without it splitting etc.

[grinner]

Rather than a clout, I used the 25mm plaster screws, screwed to the correct depth (level with the plaster) into the bottom plate about every second stud.

Grinner

[bpj1968]

Eitehr use screws or why not small off cuts of plaster. Just don't put it where the nail will go through, but just to th eside. If you scribe the internal corners, insted of mitre, you get a neater joint.

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