# Forum Home Renovation Painting  When to paint skirtings - on or off the wall? Top coat?

## dayle_bct

Hi there 
I am nearing the end of my renovation and just need some advice about when to paint my skirtings.  We have hardwood floors that have just been polished up and look fab (yay) so we need to make sure they stay looking fab. 
We have all the skirtings cut to size, they have been undercoated and have one top coat (high gloss dulux aquanamel) on them. 
Question is: Do we
A/ Nail them up as is, putty/sand and then paint the top coat whilst on the walls
or
B/ Apply the second top coat first.  Then nail them up and do the putty/sand/touch up once on the walls??? 
The paint colour is almost white (Lexicon Half - dulux) so the putty colour is essentially the same... if that makes a difference?! 
Any advice would be most appreciated!! 
Thank you!!
Dayle

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## Pulse

I'd nail them up, then fill the holes and use caulk to fill the gaps between the walls and the skirting board. Then paint the walls being sure to cover the caulk and then do the final top coat of the aquanamel. The filled holes may need to be primed/undercoated or else the holes will stand out as one coat of paint will not be enough. 
Cheers
Pulse

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## dayle_bct

Thanks for that Pulse - appreciate your advice.  We have already painted to walls (two coats) so in terms of the caulking between the top of the skirting and the walls, if we use white and be careful could we avoid having the paint over it?

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## Pulse

Unpainted caulk tends to attract dirt and looks like crap in a year or two. I would touch up the wall to just cover the caulk and a small edge of the woodwork, then cut in with the last coat of gloss. If you have no wall paint left you could vover the caulk with the aquanamel but it may not look as good. 
Cheers
Pulse

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## dayle_bct

Thanks!  Your advice is much appreciated.  We now have a plan for the weekends works. 
Cheers on 1000 posts too  :Wink:

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## r3nov8or

Yeah, I paint all skirts and archs before cutting them, and then just touch up the nail holes and corners as need be. Aquanamel takes touch ups really well, but then I use semi-gloss (or equiv).Try to minimise caulking at all if you can, but if you must the above advise is just fine. Make sure you pack the bottom out to match your plaster board thickness as the recessed edge can cause issues with getting a tight fit along the top of skirts and in corners.

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## stevoh741

I always run a bead of gaps between the wall and skirtingas it provides a neat and continual fillet between the skirting and wall andlooks better than seeing gaps here and there along the skirting. The followingtip works for me and I find it especially quick if the wall colour and skirtingare the same colour (albeit different gloss levels). I fix skirting, fill holesand gap then paint high gloss (I use aquaenamel) painting over the gaps andpartly onto the wall x 2 coats. Then when dry I cut in the wall paint(lowsheen) to the top of the skirting (and arcs). If it is a light colour it issuper quick as you dont have to be 100% accurate with the cutting as it is notnoticeable (although I still try). Looks as professional as any painters job Ihave seen. 
Note, prob wont work if using enamel for trim and acrylic walls. Also I mask ifusing a different wall colour to the trim. 
If you paint fix then touch up, the touch up bit will stand out like dogsballs. Needs to have a continual run of paint over it and yes, unpaintedcorking attracts dirt and looks crap after about 1 month.

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## r3nov8or

> If you paint fix then touch up, the touch up bit will stand out like dogsballs. Needs to have a continual run of paint over

  This, in my experience, is not the case

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## Craigoss

My approach has been in the past (using MDF skirts/arches), 2 coats undercoat once boards cut to size. Nail/screw to wall, fill and one top coat.

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## manofaus

2 cents.. I prime, then do a full cover coat, then do a second coat but only the top and bottom inch and leave a strip for fixing... but then i screw down my skirting in the middle and that pulls it into the wall tight. (predrill and counter sink) fill holes, sand paint strip in middle.  :Doh:   ahhhh... no..... i hear you all say..... too late.... is done.

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## stevoh741

> This, in my experience, is not the case

  With enamel I'd prob agree with you but aquaenamel dries too quick and despite the amount of care always leaves brush marks....at least in QLD it does, not sure about colder states.

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## an3_bolt

I did mine slightly differently. 
Had 30 x 5.4 sticks of large skirting to cut and install at our place. Primed them. Then 2 coats of Aqua Trim (Wattyl) by spray gun. Needed some Floetrol and a smiggin of water (out of the sun). Light sanding in between. 
Cut and installed. 
Filled screw holes. Primer over just the filled area and sand smooth. Then just a touch of Aqua Trim over the primed area. With a little Floetrol in it - had to really look to find the patch.  
But in any case - I do a 3rd coat of Aqua Trim with the Floetrol in it over the full lot. Quick and easy sliding some paper under/ at the edge of the skirting. 
I pick a nice cool day to do this stuff - seems to work nicely in the teens. When you start into the mid 20'sC it dries too quickly and shows brush marks. Even though the top coat is brushed - it looks completely uniform like it has been sprayed. 
Also just sprayed some doors - came out fantastic. And quick.

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## amiaow

I thought Aquanamel was the dogs breakfast of all paints (and I had purchased a 10L tin of it) until I discovered the following:
- You can't paint with Aquanamel in Brisbane in summer. It is tacky as anything. Leave your Aquanamel jobs until the weather is much cooler! About now is alright, I used it yesterday on some door jambs.
- Find the coolest part of your house to paint in. I paint under my high-set on the concrete floor. This can still be too warm for summer painting.
- You will still need to thin it a little, or at least wet your brush first to make it flow nicely- I do both
- Sand between coats or you get dodgy brush marks
- Use a brand new brush because of risk of dodgy brush marks 
I've always painted my (pre-primed) skirtings on the wall, but I have been contemplating doing them off of the wall so that I don't need to exercise caution around the floorboards. Agree re: painting the gap filler- I didn't do this the first time around and it accumulates dirt- will go back for a touch up soon and paint it.

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## ross knox

> Hi there 
> I am nearing the end of my renovation and just need some advice about when to paint my skirtings. We have hardwood floors that have just been polished up and look fab (yay) so we need to make sure they stay looking fab. 
> We have all the skirtings cut to size, they have been undercoated and have one top coat (high gloss dulux aquanamel) on them. 
> Question is: Do we
> A/ Nail them up as is, putty/sand and then paint the top coat whilst on the walls
> or
> B/ Apply the second top coat first. Then nail them up and do the putty/sand/touch up once on the walls??? 
> The paint colour is almost white (Lexicon Half - dulux) so the putty colour is essentially the same... if that makes a difference?! 
> Any advice would be most appreciated!! 
> ...

  We used MDF skirtings and finish painted them before installation. It a lot easier than cutting in against the wall later. We screwed the skirtings to the wall and had large approx 9mm diam screw head holes to fill. These were easily filled and touched up. 15 years later it is diificult to see where the screw holes were. There is a barely detectable slight circular mark at each screw thank goodness as we are removing some of the MDF for futher mods. Removal without breakage was easy and we can cut and reuse skirtings.  The final finish coat on all surfaces before installation also  ensures maximum  moisture protection. 
Rossco Brisbane

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