Fitting skirtings - frame fixings? Hammer fixings?

anta · 3 Sep 2010

Hi all,

I'm refitting old skirtings after having the walls re-skimmed. Its plaster on blockwork all the way around - no dry lining or plasterboards. I don't fancy glueing them because the walls aren't perfectly straight and the plaster at the bottom of the wall may be a bit clumbly. The boards will be repainted prior to fitting, but I'll have to touch them up afterwards on joins and fill and paint over screw heads.

I could use normal rawl plugs, but that means lots of marking and drilling and such like, so instead I fancy using either frame fixings or hammer fixings. What would you recommend? And what size?

Also, with a hammer fixing, do you just knock the screw in once the plastic bit is flush? Or screw it in as per a frame fixing?

All help appreciated.
Ant

r896neo · 3 Sep 2010

use steel nails and punch and fill them

foxhole · 3 Sep 2010

I could use normal rawl plugs, but that means lots of marking and drilling and such like.

Why does it , you can drill thru the skirting while it's against the wall and put plug thru hole and add screw and punch thru till the head is just visible and screw home till below surface.Place screws where timber bows or warps and at each end.Then just fill holes and decorate.

foamit · 5 Sep 2010

foxhole said:
I could use normal rawl plugs, but that means lots of marking and drilling and such like.

Why does it , you can drill thru the skirting while it's against the wall and put plug thru hole and add screw and punch thru till the head is just visible and screw home till below surface.Place screws where timber bows or warps and at each end.Then just fill holes and decorate.

Yes foxhole is correct as he says, that is the best way have been doing my skirtings recently fixed them say way, but i decided to stain my woodwork so i had to cut plugs to cover screwheads then line up grain on plugs to make it look neater sand down jobs a good en

anta · 5 Sep 2010

Rawl plugs - surely if the hole in the wood is big enough to put the plug through then the screw head will pull through too! Or do you mean use them like a frame fixing where the plug is flush with the face of the timber?

foamit · 5 Sep 2010

anta said:
Rawl plugs - surely if the hole in the wood is big enough to put the plug through then the screw head will pull through too! Or do you mean use them like a frame fixing where the plug is flush with the face of the timber?

No the head of the screw is not the same size,drill size 6mm masonary drill through skirting into wall put red plug in hole in skirting board tap to surface of wood,put screw into plug and hammer screw gently in (this will pull plug into wall) then screw rest of way in, hope that is clear,you may need to countersink hole before putting screw in.

lasors · 5 Sep 2010

I'd use a proper wood bit to go through the skirting, go through to the plaster and just mark it for the masonry bit. If you're worried about the solidity of the plaster, go through to the block behind and put the plug in that.

squowse · 7 Sep 2010

or use gripfill or similar?

lasors · 7 Sep 2010

Gripfill is fast and easy if you have nice straight walls. If you need to bow the skirting at all, you need to screw it into place to hold the curve.

chappers · 15 Sep 2010

lasors said:
I'd use a proper wood bit to go through the skirting, go through to the plaster and just mark it for the masonry bit. If you're worried about the solidity of the plaster, go through to the block behind and put the plug in that.

thats what he wants to save having to do.

A 6mm masonry bit will go through just fine then do as already explained put in plug flus then tap through into masoary with screw and tighten up.

lasors · 15 Sep 2010

Fair enough.

I fitted skirting boards today using regular screws and rawl plugs. Screws were a few quid for a box, rawl plugs were pennies. Hammer fixings cost a fortune in comparison for the sake of a bit change on the drill. Each to their own.

anta · 16 Sep 2010

Mine are now fitted. Hammer fixings were useless - I couldn't get them to pull the skirting tight to the wall. Ended up drilling wood and marking wall, removing skirting, drilling wall, countersinking skirting, rawl plugs in wall, replace and fit with screws.

Swapping the drill bits is a pain. I need an SDS drill. End result is neat and they're all tight to the wall - even around a curved bay window.

Just got to fill the holes and joints and touch up the paint now.

FriedFreddy · 1 Oct 2010

I just did my kitchen and my walls were like a dog's hind leg, I used new MDF skirting that I pre mitred and painted and attached with Unibond 'No More Nails' (have tried other brands and NMN is by far the best)

Basically when the skirts were ready to go in (paint dried etc) I applied PLENTY of NMN to the back of the skirt (paying attention to a good bead 1/2" below the top for a good seal to the wall along the top), placed the skirt hard against the wall and then tacked it up using my compressor & nail gun firing 2" brads to hold everything in place and tight to the wobbly wall while the NMN dried (then filler knife to remove excess NMN and wet rag to clean up any smeers), the brads only leave a very small hole to be touched up and while on their own they won't last the NMN will (so well in fact that when I got 1 piece positioned wrong and only noticed it 2 days later I need a bolster and club hammer to get the bugger off ! )

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Fitting skirtings - frame fixings? Hammer fixings?

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