Removed a skirting board and found an inch of plaster

[Lumpsack]

Morning all,

I'm working on what started out as a simple (if anything on my house is simple!) redecoration of a bedroom, which quickly turned into laminating the floor, replacing the sockets ect etc.

Anyway the skirting board was battered and old so we figured we'd take it off and replace but the stuff we're looking at is shorter than the stuff we're removing and when I removed it there were wooden wedges which pulled of great clumps of plaster which was about an inch think!

Anyway I've nearly bankrupted myself with the materials so can no longer afford a plasterer

So what would you guys do?

What will I need to get? - I understand there are different types of plaster.

I have searched about but either am not searching for the right thing or just haven't spotted the answer.

So any help would be very much appreciated as apart from stripping wallpaper which is so think with gloss paint it cannot be soaked its my next job.

Cheers,

Lumpy.

 

[Lumpsack]

To help illustrate I've uploaded a couple of pictures:

View media item 17061
View media item 17062
I've no doubt you guys will think this quite easy but I've very new to this (in case you hadn't guessed!)

 

[Nige F]

just get some 1 coat from a diy outlet . Better off with Taller skirting than existing ...to hide that horrible line . But wouldn`t the new laminate floor lift the skirting up a bit anyway

 

[trowelmonkey1]

i would use hardwall personally, wet the bricks down and fill with hardwall, no need to worry about skimming as skirting will cover it anyway.

 

[Lumpsack]

Many thanks for the suggestions - sadly the replacement skirting will be shorter so I guess I'm going to learn how to plaster (or forever face the wrath of my wife )

I got a big old bag of multi-purpose earlier today (when there were no responses) so hopefully that will do the job.

Wish me luck!

 

[roughcaster]

Firstly, i'd take away all the loose plaster from behind the old skirting board area, and then i'd gently chip away about a half inch of surface plaster "above the old skirting line",, just to get rid of that "slight curl outwards", of the plaster. You could chip that way with the corner of a scraper, or even an old wood chisel ,,, you're not taking much off, so don't use anything too heavy. Remove all the old wallpaper too. When you have it prepped,, brush away any dust, give the areas a wet/pva,, then bring it out flush with hardwall or bonding coat. Take a small piece of wood for a straight edge, and using the vertical plane of the wall as your guide, run it across the bottom of the wall, in an up and down motion, to get the wall flush. Don't plaster right down to the floorboards,, keep it up an inch or so.
When set, you could give the top inch or so, a thin coat of skim, just to make sure the the wall is smooth just above the new skirting.

Roughcaster.

 

[roy c]

I agree with everything RC said but instead of using hard wall or bonding I would use "One Coat Plaster" and you could finish it ready for painting with out using a skim coat. I'm sure we could guide you thru the method if you decide to do it that way

 

[roughcaster]

I can't remember the last time i used "one coat plaster" for anything Roy, but as you said, it will cut out the need for a seperate top skim.

Roughcaster.

 

[roy c]

To tell you the truth RC I haven't used it in quantity since when I was in Guernsey in the 80's. It just never caught on but they used it on the continent
but as you know, old spreads are stuck in their ways and don't like change.

 

[Lumpsack]

You are all both gentlemen and scholars and I will try that out.

Oh, and yep all that god awful paper with what seems paint thick enough to resist a small army''s attention will soon be gone, then onto the plaster (I figure I'll no doubt damage something else removing the paper).

Once I have the plasterwork sorted I can get onto the original plan - painting the flippin' room!

 

[roughcaster]

old spreads are stuck in their ways and don't like change.

Too true Roy mate.

Roughcaster.

 

[RedHerring]

It looks to me like the skirting is a plain piece of board with a round over on the top corner. It wouldn't take much to replicate it with a router from a piece of ordinary timber of the correct size.

 

[Lumpsack]

hehe, usually yes, but I found a new skill I didn't know the previous plaster possessed, now I'm used to finding paper of the same pattern both under and over a skim, but today I discovered that a small section of the skirting board was in fact solid plaster!

Now full credit to them it wasn't until I attacked it with a crowbar that I could tell, but it was the last thing I was expecting!

As to the skirting, I'm going to plaster back and get a shorter board that is the same pattering as the laminate, but thanks anyway.