P1-Brad

I'm having wood floor fitted in my new house shortly and want to remove the skirting first to get the best possible finish ...

... just spoken to the developers and they've told me that the skirting was attached using glue (and the occasional nail)

Does anyone know if / how it is possible to remove and re-use the skirting, or will it damage the wall too much?? I've read a couple of DIY guides but think they only applied if the skirting was held on by nails or screws.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Bradders

Brendan Hughes

Height and thickness of skirting boards?

P1-Brad

Guessing now ... about 4-5" high and 3/4" thick ... standard new build stuff.

image doctor

Just pull the fukcer off and see what happens.

HTH

id

davegtt

Replace if its not too much trouble, if your spending a fortune on a nice new floor you want the best finish possible dont you? I could never rip skirting board of with such delicacy (sp?) to be able to reuse it. The you can redecorate whilst your at it (yes my woman wont let me get away with one simple DIY job, have to go the whole hog when she wants something done )

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

standard new build shyte is often 95mm high by 12mm deep in MDF.
also available at about £1/m should the worst happen.

P1-Brad

It's a new build house and I wanted to try to avoid redecorating for 12-18 months if possible because of shrinkage

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

If it's nailed on, you can generally get it off, and even re-use it, then refill the nail holes. It's usually donne by inserting a wide chisel-type thing down the back, with the help of a hammer, then levering forwards. It helps to know where the nails are and work near to them, to avoid splintering, or snapping the boards.

I generally use a thing used for cutting bricks, it's about 4" wide, and is called a brick bolster. A slightly smaller type is an electrician's bolster, and is used to lift floorboards, among other things.

If skirting boards have been glued, you could TRY, but you stand a good chance of pulling lumps of plaster off the wall if the hold of the plaster on the wall is less than the hold of the glue on the plaster

Alcazar

P1-Brad

This is what i'm most worried about ... just hate beading so wondering if it's worth taking the risk!?

Thanks all for suggestions up to now

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

dont worry so much about pulling plaster from the walls, its new build so all you will have to do it cut the plasterboard square and fit a new rip

Jer

Run a Stanley knife between the wall and skirting board, if it does rip it will only rip to the level of the cut. I have not tried this so do it on an area you can't see.

wrc350

probably skirting has been "gripfilled" and gun nailed which will be easy to come off but will prob pull odd bit of plaster off wall behind skirting but shouldnt be a prob, just ease off wall gently with a chisel or a thin crowbar type tool,

V1CK1

Our wood floor was finished yesterday and we had the same dilema. Would also mean removing all rads to refit skirting. We hated all beading we had seen but then were shown something called "scotia", basically it is put on after the wood has been put down. It is like a white corner of wood which is glued onto the skirting and floor and once painted looks like it is part of the skirting, so looks like you did take the skirting off before laying the floor and then had new stuff put in.. Really pleased with how ours has come out. Just make sure the fitters are good, worth paying extra for a good workman!

Also meant they could leave a larger than normal expansion gap and shoved all our wires under

Vicki

Dave T-S

Be very careful.

If it is a new house chances are the walls are plasterboard. If you put a lever down the back of the skirting almost certainly you will punch holes in the plasterboard. Ideally you need to lever it off at the wall studs if it is timber framed. If it is plasterboard fitted with plaster dabs on a block wall you need to put something like a large piece of 3mm thick steel behind the lever to spread the load and avoid punching holes in the plasterboard

P1-Brad

Thanks for the advice guys...

... i've got a qualified chippy coming round to look at something else so I'm getting him to do it ... seems fairly confident of getting the skirting off with minimal damage to the walls and being able to re-use the skirting after! I'm a bit sceptical but we'll see!

Thanks again.

Bradders