If you have ever had a day fitting skirting boards and then, after painting them, had to spend a couple of hours lying down to get over it, then read on. Sometimes you don’t realise that the most obvious things are right in front of you; you can’t see the ‘wood for the trees’ (sorry about the pun!).
STOP AND CHECK OUT MY HANDY HINTS BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!
First of all, before you even think about fitting your skirting boards put all of the skirting boards on some trestles or something similar and then paint them all to the finish you want (it’s that easy).
After you have finished the last coat and let it dry, you then need to cut, mitre, and scribe all of the skirting boards and fit them throughout the room. Once you have finished fitting all of the skirting boards, go around with a mastic gun using decorators caulk (which can be bought for a couple of pounds or pence from any DIY store) and fill in any nail holes and gaps. All you need to do then is to touch up with your finish coat of paint in all the mitre’s, scribes etc. and you’re done.
A little tip – if you are only painting your walls (rather than wallpapering them) and you find that there is a gap between your painted skirting board and the wall, then you could use mastic to seal the gap and give a professional finish. You can get mastic’s in a variety of colours to match the colour you already painted from any DIY shop. You can buy either white or brown mastic if you have lacquered the skirting board. If you follow the directions on the tube it will show you to cut the nozzle at an angle and apply continuous pressure for a smooth bead of mastic. It would be best to try it out on something first to get a feel for it before you apply the mastic to the top of the skirting board. It would be good to have a water spray gun (or a good bit of spit, a bit uncouth I know) and paper towels to remove any excess.
After spraying the mastic with water use your finger (or if you are posh buy a mastic scribing card) and run along the top edge wiping the excess on the towels. Another good idea is to use masking tape to stop the mastic going everywhere. The masking tape will catch the excess, and then you simply remove the masking tape afterwards. You pull the tape off straight away before the mastic sets (otherwise the masking tape will rip). This should leave you a nice, neat finish.
Hopefully a job well done and knees saved for another day.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Eddie Proudman