Skirting Boards

[samrose]

Hi there to everyone who knows so much more about this stuff than I do. I have a question (which I suspect may make me look like an idiot, but here goes anyway) about skirting boards. We're building a new house and I'm thinking of putting in some of those premolded MDF skirting boards you can buy at the big hardware stores. Question: Do I put them in before carpet is put down, or after? And what is the best way to install them?
Thanks, Sam.

[Trav]

Sam

For carpet, put them down first. For timber floors, put them down after the floors.

Most of the time they are attached to the studs in the walls with brads (small nails fired from a brad gun). The internal corners are scribed. This menas that one board is butted up against the wall. On the other board, cut a 45 degree angle with a mitre saw and then use a coping saw to cut along the corner of the front and the slope. This will then fit neatly over the first board). Joins along the middle of a wall are normally done with scarf joints (matching 45 degree cuts on each board).

Good luck

Trav

[samrose]

Thanks for the info Trav. Our internal walls are brick covered with plaster, so no studs to nail to. Should I still use nails or just something like Liquid Nails?
Sam

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Unless you want to buy/hire expensive tools to do the job, liquid nails is the way to go.

After all, 'tis only MDF.

[journeyman Mick]

Sam,
as long as your walls are reasonably straight you can glue your skirtings on with either construction adhesive (liquid nails etc) ar a polurethane adhesive (Bostik seal n' flex or similar). If you have a finishing gun you can skew some short nails in at an acute angle to hold the skirting to the wall while the glue sets. The nail should skew into the plasterboard without hitting the brickwork. Otherwise you can use hot glue to hold the skirting on while your other glue sets up.

Mick

[samrose]

Thanks all, Sam.

[Jimmy845]

Can I just confirm something about this question?

For carpet, put them down first

Is that a hard and fast rule, or just an opinion? I was thinking of painting the skirting first, getting the carpet laid, then installing the skirting and just touching up the parts where I nail it. I know this might not be the normal method, but I was hoping it would be easier than trying to paint the damn things once they are attached to the walls, and end up with either wall paint on the skirting or skirting paint on the wall..no matter how careful I am

Thanks...Jimmy

[johnc]

Because of the way carpet is fixed on those spiked boards it is definately without question skirtings first. There is nothing to stop you painting the skirtings before they go in if you wish although you would need to touch up the nail holes. Putting carpet down first would give you are very second rate finish IMHO.

John

[Jimmy845]

Thanks very much for the response JohnC. As my wife also pointed out, when she changes her mind again and we decide to rip the carpet out and go back to floorboards, there would be a horrible gap undeneath the skirting where the carpet used to be too :eek:

So skirting it is first then and no gap underneath

Jimmy