Skirting board repair

Skirting that has come unstuck by the door, been knocked by the vacuum cleaner, cracked at a corner or pulled away from the wall after a new floor went down. Skirting board repair usually covers a few sections rather than the whole floor, which is why it is priced per running metre repaired.

The most common repairs

• re-gluing or screwing back skirting that has come away;
• replacing a damaged section with a new one and matching the joint;
• replacing corners and end caps on system skirting;
• filling the gap between skirting and wall with caulk and touching up the paint;
• fixing the skirting by the door frame, where it most often opens up.

Why skirting comes away

The usual cause is adhesive applied to a dusty or freshly painted wall, or skirting pressed down onto the floor so that moving laminate pushes it off. Sometimes the wall is bowed and the board was glued without extra fixings at the worst spots. The handyman deals with the cause rather than just sticking the board back, or it will come off again.

Matching a new section

The hardest part is finding a board identical to the existing one. If you kept offcuts from the original fit, have them ready for the visit. If not, photograph the board’s profile and give its height: the handyman will look for a close match or suggest replacing the whole length along that wall so the difference does not show.

Common questions