Making good vertical gaps in skirting

[Hozier]

DIY skirting board installation. Only used mitre box and looking for a solution to make good the mm gaps that are left behind.

Is there a specific type of caulk that would work best prior to painting?

I know the job isn’t a pro finish by any stretch so be kind!
Cheers.

 

[johnny2007]

Good quality caulk is the easiest.
Apply than wipe excess with damp cloth.
Otherwise a flexible filler and sanding.
Did you glue the skirting as well as bolting it in?

 

[foxhole]

I prefer this, https://www.toolstation.com/toupret...MI3t7k697c7gIVx57tCh35PgJUEAQYBCABEgK8LvD_BwE

Sandable and does not shrink back like caulk.

 

[Hozier]

Good quality caulk is the easiest.
Apply than wipe excess with damp cloth.
Otherwise a flexible filler and sanding.
Did you glue the skirting as well as bolting it in?

Some of the skirting I have used grip-it as well. But where the edges meet I’d read to use PVA but in all honesty wasn’t sure how to keep them pressed together for long enough ... some of them still have a bit of give right at the ends so could also be stuck if I knew how to do it

 

[^woody^]

If there is a next time, scribe the internal corner not mitre, then you wont see any gaps so much.

 

[johnny2007]

If there is a next time, scribe the internal corner not mitre, then you wont see any gaps so much.

That's what i do when the skirting is being stained or varnished.
With white a lot of stuff can be hidden and a mitre cut takes seconds

 

[Deleted member 174758]

May take seconds, but over time internal mitres invariably open up and grin back at you with a nice gap... Which is the reason why you scribe

 

[johnny2007]

May take seconds, but over time internal mitres invariably open up and grin back at you...

Then it's time to redecorate
Jokes apart, if the skirting is fixed properly it would take years for a gap to crack.
External corners are a different matter, they must be perfect from the start.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Not always. I've seen stuff which has been cowboyed in needing replacement in as little as 6 months on new builds - or basically the first really warm weather (after a winter fit out) or after the central heating has been on for a month or two in winter (after a summer fit out). Granted softwood is worse than MDF by a long chalk

 

[Hozier]

If there is a next time, scribe the internal corner not mitre, then you wont see any gaps so much.

I'm hoping there won't be

 

[^woody^]

LOL. I get some jobs that make me feel like that