Fixing new skirting questions

[samtheman1k]

Hi All,

I've just bought some 19x119mm skirting boards for my lounge and hallway but need some advice on fitting please!

My walls are not perfectly straight, thus will definitely use screws, but at what spacing should I use them? Also, do I need to do one at top and one at bottom, or is just one in the middle enough? Finally, do I use Gripfill behind the board aswell?

Also, I think I cut mitre the external corners ok, but why should I scribe and not mitre the internal corners? I have a mitre saw so can cut angles ok, but confused as to why use one and not the other?

Thanks!

 

[foxhole]

Depend how out of true they are. Adhesive works fine in most cases as you don't follow the wall but back fill any dips , far less obvious than a snaking skirting. If you need pressure to hold areas in place you can use scraps of timber with a single screw thru to floorboards, remove when adhesive has cured.For concrete floor I use timber scrap held with a bucket of water [for weight] or tins of paint [or whatever heavy weights you have to hand].
Wall are rarely at 90 degrees so scribing copes better than mitre.

 

[stevethejoiner]

Scribing is the correct and best method for internal corners, it would also be best for external corners but then you would have horrid end grain visible so its not possible. And the reason why! Shrinkage. It is likely that the skirting will want to shrink after fitted, and it can shrink considerably in its length. If you mitre at the corners you will have shrinkage on both returns which naturally causes a gap in the joint. With a scribe you still get the shrinkage but face is hidden by the overlap of the return scribed board, so the shrinkage is not as evident.
You also don't have to worry about none 90 deg mitres with a scribe joint.

With regard to fixing I agree with Foxhole, I would go with adhesive. A good gap filling one. And fill any gaps behind the skirting where the wall is uneven with decorators filler. When you paint or paper, go over this filler and decorate to the back edge of the skirting and the finished product all looks straight.
If you go with screwing and thus pulling the skirting in and out, and in and out all along the wall with screws back to the uneven plaster it will always look uneven even after its decorated.