Removing silicone sealed skirting Boards in New Houses

[plaintalk]

Hi,
I have a five year old house with silicone sealed skirting boards and I want to fit laminate flooring underneath them, the same goes for the door jams, does anyone know how to remove them without destroying the plasterboard it is sealed to?

 

[stric]

Can't you just take them off and use bigger skirting to hide any damage? A sharp chisel should remove the silicone from the walls. (not on its own you understand? you have to be using the chisel

 

[plaintalk]

Hi Stric,
Thanks for the reply, I did lay a chisel in front of the skirting board to see what would happen, but your right, it doesn't do it on it's own
Seriously, the plasterboard is the wall, if that is damaged, then there is no wall to fix the skirting board to. It's a timber framed house and I get draughts from the power sockets indicating that the outside air is circulating inside the stud walls and I'm thinking that's the reason for the sealed skirting boards. I also want to keep costs and effort to a minimum and don't yet own a mitre saw to make those 'perfect' corners in the skirting.
Do you think there is any adavantage using the lifted skirting board method, to keeping the skirting board where it is, plumbing the laminate right upto the skirting with a 5mm gap and then fitting beading around the edges?

 

[stric]

Personally I can't stand beading, It stands out too much, and probably works out dearer than new skirting. Another way is to leave the skirting on, fit the laminate leaving a 10mm gap all round, then have your local timber yard rebate the back off some new (bigger) skirting, then you just fit the new to the old, obviously make sure the new skirting is thick enough to take the rebate. You will have to invest in a mitre saw though. And don't forget...... don't leave a gap around door frames, trim the door frame and fit ithe laminate underneath.

 

[IJWS15]

Try taking a piece off - if it is anything like ours it won't be stuck too well. I use a wide paint scraper/chisel.

Potential results;

If the wall is skimmed (not allways done) then it may lift some of the skim off the plasterboard which is easily repaired.

If the walls are not skimmed (ours are not) then it just lifts the top layer of paper off the plasterboard. Again easily fixed.

You will probably find it is fixed with something like gripfil but as the contractor is working to a price he uses as little as he can get away with, you may also find some thin 50mm nails put in with a gun (waste of time they are!) All the rooms I have decorated so far have been re-done - biggest problem is cleaning the silicon off where it has been used by the previous owner to fill the gaps in the corners.

Good luck.

 

[plaintalk]

Thanks,
I was brave enough to pull a small piece of skirting board off after cutting away the sealant that runs along the top. It's got those 50mm long/ 2-3mm dia almost headless nails buried into the skirting board with a zig-zag of sealant on the backside. The plasterboard/paper stayed intact.

Thanks all for your help