So, i have got the first length of skirting off, and whilst the wall is ok the bit behind where the skirting was is a bit of a mess.

There is one section above the height of the skirting which the plaster has given way a bit.

What is the best approach to reconstruction? To fit the new skirting what would be the best approach? The wood? chocks the victorians had nailed the original board to are still there, is screwing to them a good idea???? etc????

Patch the plaster visible

Use finishing nails in the nail gun to fix to the chocks

Screwing will look awful.

is screwing to them a good idea

Can do but screwing will leave big holes to fill. A Gripfill type adhesive with lostheads or such like into the timber wedges to hold until the Gripfill goes off would work.

Screwing will look awful.

true, but using the chocks is the way forward then.

just need to get the rest of the skirting off now.

Well the Victorians used timber wedges in the brick joints because they didn’t have SDS drills or harden steel nails (although they did have cut nails which can to an extent work in a brick joint) So if you want to screw the skirting on you can drill, plug, and screw it. But my suggestion in my previous post would be better imo.

@ernie, didn’t mean screw to wedges, just use the wedges as the fixing point.

If i stick a bit of glue on the wedge and nails to hold whilst goes off, is that what you meant.

I mean run a bead of Gripfill (or similar) on the back of the skirting and just pin it until it goes off. A second fix nail gun would be ideal if you know someone who’s got one, otherwise lost heads into the wedges will be fine.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/FXGFL.html?source=adwords&kw=&gclid=CP2FooK-5LgCFRMRtAodxyYAsw

thanks,

Pretty stainless screw heads showing is a small price to pay for being able to take the skirting boards off when papering and painting.

?why would you take the skirting board off when you are painting/wallpapering.

Wallpapering it gives you a much neater finish-

Wouldnt bother for painting

Flooring on the other hand – laying wood /laminate/tiles getting the skirting off is much neater than putting a bead round.

Which is why i dont gripfill

Flooring on the other hand – laying wood /laminate/tiles getting the skirting off is much neater than putting a bead round.

which is why the skirting is coming off. and thinking about the paint bit, it will go on last.

When I did this recently, I was fortunate enough to keep the wooden strips that the old skirting was nailed to, intact. Or at least solid enough to screw back into. Yeah, I had a couple of holes to fill, but that’s really no big deal