No Plaster behind skirting boards

[pturo]

I've taken out the skirting boards in my house (victorian terrace) and there's no plaster within about 10-15cm of the base of the wall. This is the case throughout the whole house: upstairs and down. The skirtings were nailed into place.

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• pturo
• 1 Apr 2015
• 1

I will be getting a plasterer in to do some bits and pieces but I think paying someone to plaster this might turn out expensive as it adds up to a lot of metres in length!

I plan to tackle it myself, but am wondering what to use. As I understand it, the normal process for plastering is to put on an undercoat and then skim over that. Obviously here, there is no clean edge, so I'm not going to be able to do this and then skim.

Is there a product that I can use to fill to the full thickness? (I'm probablly be going to be putting tall skirtings back, so it's not so important if it doesn't take a finish. That said, there might be some areas where the patching up extends higher than the new skirting...

 

[ree]

The gaps are irrelevant, and above solid floors, gaps are good to have (they break ground contact).

If you insist on filling then almost any plaster will do but you are probably best with a bag of bonding.

You have high skirting boards at the moment and if you had wanted to make them "higher" you could have left them in place and simply added lengths of top moulding.

Now, you can go back in with two part skirting (or built-up two part skirting if you have reasonable joinery skills?). google for pics.

Your old skirtings would have been nailed to wood fixing "plugs". Leave the plugs in and screw any new or re-fixed skirting into wood or plastic plugs.

 

[pturo]

Thanks Ree.

I don't want the new skirting to be any higher than it is now; possibly a fraction lower.

One of the reasons I've taken the skirting off was that in quite a few places there was a gap at the top. Presumably this is because as it was nailed in further down, this pulled the lower side of the board in towards the brickwork, and the top outwards. I'm sure this could be remedied with a few spacers placed behind the boards lower down...

 

[TheVictorian]

Attach a length of timber along the gap which is the same depth as the plaster, drill, plug and screw this to the brickwork.

Then you can attach you new skirting by just screwing it to this batten, a line of gripfill on the back of the skirting where it will be in contact with the plaster would also be good.

A nice neat bit of caulk along the top of the skirting and you'll have a really nice job. Personally I wouldn't use any smaller skirting as it spoils the classic Victorian proportions of your house.

I certainly wouldn't be paying someone to plaster somewhere that I can't see!

 

[pturo]

OK, that all makes sense! Cheers...

 

[JohnD]

Attach a length of timber along the gap which is the same depth as the plaster, drill, plug and screw this to the brickwork.

I do that too. It gives a first class job but does take a bit more time

you only need small screws to hold the skirting to the batten. If there is a draught round the edges of the room, you can put foam or mineral wool between the lower batten and the floor.