Skirting board installation

Skirting boards cover the expansion gap along the wall and finish off the floor. Badly fitted ones gap away from a crooked wall, open up at the corners and come unstuck within months exactly where the vacuum cleaner usually bumps into them. Skirting installation is priced per running metre.

How skirting boards are fitted

The method depends on the board and the wall:

• MDF and timber skirting is usually glued with grab adhesive, and on crooked walls also screwed or pinned in a few places;
• PVC skirting often clips onto brackets screwed to the wall, with a channel for cables;
• primed skirting for painting is glued, then the joints are filled and painted along with the wall.

The handyman cuts corners at an angle on a mitre saw, and in older flats, where corners are rarely a true 90 degrees, scribes them to fit on site. Finally, if the skirting is going to be painted, the gap between board and wall is run with decorator’s caulk.

Common mistakes

Skirting must not press laminate down to the floor: laminate moves and needs a free gap at the wall. So the board is fixed to the wall, never to the floor. The second mistake is fitting onto freshly painted or dusty walls, where the adhesive simply peels off with the paint.

What to prepare

• skirting with about 10% extra for cuts, plus corners and end caps if the system uses them;
• grab adhesive if you have a favourite, or a note asking the handyman to bring it;
• a finished floor and dry walls;
• room sizes or the perimeter in running metres in the job.

Common questions