# Forum Home Renovation Doors, Windows, Architraves & Skirts  Attaching Skirting Boards to Brick Render Walls

## kangaroo1

Hi everyone, 
Have now progressed to attaching skirting boards to rendered brick walls in my son's newly acquired 1950's Dept of Housing 3 bedroom brick abode we are renovating in Lane Cove. 
Decided on Porta Lambs Tongue 90X18 presealed finger jointed pine from Bunnings (in preference to MDF because of some history of damp walls to bathroom etc).  
No particular problems with the scribing of internal corners (only 2 external corners) but plenty of joins because Lambs Tongue only comes in 2.7m lengths. 
My 20 year old 210mm Ryobi drop saw died on the first cut (it was too small to cut the 90mm mitres vertically anyway ) so - a blessing in disguise - I replaced it with a 255mm Ryobi for $200 from Bunnings ($40 cheaper than the the old saw)  which has an 1800w motor (v's 950w) and laser pointer. It appears robust and every angle is adjustable for correct alignment. It also came with a good quality blade (about 42 teeth) which gives a neat cut in contrast to the dodgey baldes they used to supply 20 years ago. 
I can now  manage a vertical mitre on the 90mm skirting as long as I pack it out while cutting with a second piece of skirting so it is the deepest area of saw cut- Perfect everytime. 
Biggest difficulty has been deciding on the mode of attachment of skirting to the wall. I wanted to avoid glue to retain flexibility to remove the skirting easily if required.. 
I initially tried 50mmX2.8 galvanised jolt head nails into red continuous spaghetti plastic plugging (designed for 2.8mm nails I was informed)- drilled the 5.5mm hole with a steel/wood drill then 5.5mm masonry drill - inserted the spaghetti, marked exposed edge with a chisel , extracted the spaghetti and cut with a pair of pliers about 4mm shorter to allow nail head to recess below the skirting surface.  
This worked well initially until I came to a join where the two mitred pieces that had matched perfectly were slightly misalligned once I drove in the nails. A similar misalignment occurred on the next internal corner which put the scribed board adjoining it slightly out of whack.  
Unfortunately if you drive the nails in too far or the wall is a bit uneven then you can't easily adjust them. This is particularly so where the gap of about 30mm (sometimes more) at the bottom of the render has broken away so if you have the nails too close to the floor the skirting can tend to head-in at the bottom & out at the top. 
I then went to Plan B - 50mmX8g stainless steel decking screws with 50 mm Red 5.5mm RawlPlugs (not spaghetti)- same drill bits ( but skirting drilled in advance at about 400 centres so I didnt destroy the wood bit on the render) and countersunk to enable screw heads to be hidden (will use PolyFilla skim). Usually only 1 row of screws towards the top of the flat section of board but use an extra screw towards the top inside the curved profile if the skirting is sitting out. 
The glory of the screws is that you can finely adjust the skirting every which-way. 
Generally the skirting has sat fairly flat on the floorboards except where there has been less sanding in hard to reach corners. With these I've run a pencil along the floor to mark the face of the skirting and filed (Bastard file?) off the bottom of the skirt to match the floor (left my electric plane at my residence in the country together with my Triton saw bench - both of which would have come in handy!). 
It was recommended at the local hardware store that I leave up to 3mm gap between skirting and floor to allow for expansion - so I bought some 1.5mm spacers - but finally decided it wasnt necessary as mostly there is a variable 1-2mm gap except at the ends or the odd higher board. Was this the right decision?? I still have 4 rooms to go so not too late to change! 
I have elected to paint the skirtings with semi-gloss Dulux water based paint (Aquanamel)- after much deliberation.  
I would much prefer to use oil-based paint but it has the disadvantage of slight yellowing with age (years - but may be aesthetically important) and taking overnight to dry. The difficulty in getting an even finish with the Aquanamel  on flat surfaces was a concern but I tried an oval 50mm brush with relatively fine fibres and it seems satisfactory as long as you keep the brush moving.  
The rapid drying of the Aquanamel was the critical factor as we have two cats in the house and the sight of cat fur stuck all over the skirting was not a pleasing thought. With the rapid drying it also enabled me to rapidly pre-coat the 70m of skirting in one go. 
I have sealed all the cut ends with Aquanamel and also cut the non-scribed boards for the internal corners at a slight angle so the top is flush with the wall but it angles way from the wall to the bottom (hiddden by the scribed adjoining board) so it can hopefully cope with any expansion in length. The boards have had at least a week to acclimatise. 
My other advice would be generally to fix each board then cut the next board then fix - otherwise if you cut in the whole room before fixing (which I did initially) then a few mm change in the fixing can leave you mis-aligned. 
So far so good - lwith the white wash limed flooring and new skirting - kept in character with the period and style of the house but looks very smart, fresh and contemporary. 
Thanks again for everyone's assistance and advice. 
Regards
Kangaroo

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## woodchip

G'day Roo, good onya, you have learnt a few things along the way by the sounds of it. I think you have made it a little more complicated & time consuming than it needs to be. You may find it better using 65mm screws on the rendered wall, zinc plated or galvanised if you like will be fine. Have some liquid nails handy, this can really help the skirting stay tighter into the wall in problem areas only (you likely will not be removing the skirting anytime soon & even if you do a scraper will break the bond & a chisel will clean up the board ready to be re-installed. Just use the 5.5mm rotary hammer drill bit through the timber & into the wall in one go, then the 5.5mm continuous spaghetti, cut a couple of mm shorter than the hole you drilled as you have done, screw head should pull into skirt without countersinking. water-based wood filler & sand screw holes. I wouldn't bother with the 3mm gap (gives the cocky's a nice safe pathway!), I also wouldn't bother painting the cuts or ends of the skirt. remember the no-more-gaps before painting the top coats....all good, cheers.

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## kangaroo1

Thanks Woodchip. 
You're right about the cockies (and the draft!) so will forget the 3mm gap,
Regards
Kangaroo

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