Fitting skirting to newly skimmed walls

[sjaisie]

My walls have been skimmed, with some bonding in places first, and I will be fitting MDF skirting using mostly grab adhesive.
How long should I wait for the plaster to dry before fitting, and is there any need to seal the wall before fitting?

 

[Wayners]

I use foam with just a few blobs of polymer grab as foam has no pull and hold.
You can use just a polymer ( Stixall or CT1).
As soon as you see plaster surface showing signs of drying out your can crack on
48 Hours I'd guess.

If bonding is thick and holding moisture wait longer but for a skim over will dry out in a couple of days.

Open windows and put a summer fan on to speed things up. Air movement is great. You don't need heaters!

 

[GhostIntMachine]

I use foam with just a few blobs of polymer grab as foam has no pull and hold.
You can use just a polymer ( Stixall or CT1).

With either you are normally advised to pin the skirting to the wall whilst the adhesive goes off. I've found that even CT-1 doesn't always hold all that well without pins. So, assuming that the OP doesn't have a 2nd fix nail gun, maybe just use the foam and hold the boards against the wall with weights (e.g. building blocks with cardboard protection) or 2 x 1in softwood laths cut slightly long and sprung-in wall to wall. Another way might be to mark where the studs are (on the floor) then foam the back of the skirting, pop the skirting in place and nail through the skirting and plaster with a 50mm panel pin or 2-1/2in oval nail into every or every other joist. Can be punched under and filled after the foam has set. Steel joists obviously can't be nailed - for those a good quality 4 or 3.5mm screw is the solution (Reisser Cutter or Spax, ideally). The fixings aren't there to hold the skirting - they are only there to hold it in place whilst the glue or foam sets

 

[foxhole]

I find foam fix works fine, a few buckets of water or full paint tins provide enough weight to hold in place, or with timber floor you can screw scrap timber to floor to brace skirting’s.Foam fix works even better against a damp surface.