How To Fit Skirting Boards Like a Pro
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James shows us how he likes to fit skirting boards in this quick guide.
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#SkirtingBoards #DIYhelp #SkillBuilder
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F@vv aš@l)LD))) be free a km d we
Never knew this was a thing, i subscribe to a few mags, this has them and the daily newspapers. Cheers will be swapping to this.
Wow, a chippy who owns a piece of sandpaper!
Nice work, but For anyone starting out would suggest always doing the straight longer runs first. Square cuts and scribe all the smaller pieces going into them. Less material waste if mistakes are made
When you said about if the grain goes in the wrong direction on the plug, and it goes below the face, a little tip, instead of having to dig the plug to replace it, like you said, and risk damaging the sides of the hole, just screw a longer screw into the plug that need to be removed, and the tip of the screw, hits the head of screw inside the hole, and draws the plug straight out, without causing any damage. Give it a go, works every time providing the glue is still wet. 👍
I plug every job I do. That’s a new one on me..... can’t wait to give it a go. Cheers
Brilliant! Thanks.
Richard Baker That is a good tip
@@jimichip what brand of sink and plug cutters are you using? Not had much luck with plug cutters in the past. Cheers 👍🏻
@@noskills9577 that’s just an erbauer set from screwfix.
I commented on the Cowboy Builder video about tradesmen not being paid what they are worth. Here’s an example. That skirting board will still look great in 30, 40, 50 maybe even 100 years time because of the skill in its fixing. The value of the work done by James per hour is worth no less than that done by solicitors, accountants or Mercedes technicians. It would therefore be reasonable for him to be rewarded at the same rate.
Thanks Trevor.
@@jimichip I agree. Super work, so tidy. I’ve done skirtings before, after paying a ‘tiler’ to level floor and tile. His version of a level floor was a joke. When it came to adding the skirting it was like a see saw. I didn’t have the skill to do scribes on the bottom so now the gaps serve as lovely dust and fluff collection points! Was so disappointed in the tiler tho.
Doesn’t it take less time to train this skill though?! Accountants probably 10+ years and considerably more £ to train hence a higher reward
Not to be an arse but that would paradoxically create even more cowboys as class workers doing a standard job would be a luxury rather than the standard, in one way the great oppression of the industrial revolution made quality affordable as tradesmen with skill where paid in buttons and led exposure.
This really is an excellent masterclass on how to fit skirting. I've referred to this over and over as I fit my own. Thanks guys.
Really great to see a vid on fitting pine when everything is mostly MDF didn’t realise you need so many fixings. All the skill builder carpentry videos have been invaluable to me doing my home renovation , keep up the amazing work 👍🏻👌🏻🙌🏼
A true craftsmen doing a job he enjoys. Well done 👍👍👍👍
Thanks a lot gents. Some good tips there! Did a job a few days ago a plaster was absolutely terrible. Spent a good amount of time adding spacers at the bottom of the wall. The expanding foam is a brilliant idea. Also the what he mention about the external mitres was brill! Would love to see another video where he does a full room.
Brilliant work ,advice and tips . Top job James 👍
Great job 👏. I’m painter & decorator by trade and I’m so pleased to see that Chippy is putting the masking tape under the skirtings. I’m asking this for years. Thanks for video 👍🏻
Love watching James work, the skill, attention to detail and sheer precision is so satisfying to watch.
Great video as usual, refreshing to see work done correctly. Keep up the great work 👍
So impressive. I never realised what goes into it. Much respect!
Always a pleasure to see a true professional at work. Thank you for the tips.
Great little video and really useful. Love watching James work - such a pro! 👍🏻😎
Perfect job mate. Looks great!
Great video. Chippie myself and always looking for ways to improve my workflow. I was always taught when doing skirting board never to box yourself in. Always put your first length between two walls first and work away from it but I prefer your way of working right to left. Also with the skirting being slightly tilted I used to get the angle with a bevel and transfer it to the chop saw but I’m going to start doing it your way scribing a line to get the angle on the saw. So much easier. Great video! More carpentry videos by James please 👍🏻
top job loved the plugging of the wood at the end , thumbs up
What a true craftsman. Beautiful work.
Brilliant, a professional tradesman with actual pride in his work, great job and thanks for the tips 😀
How the hell can this video have 12 dislikes !!!! I would like to see anyone do better. Keep up the great work, James you are a credit to your profession.
A great dedicated bloke. Wish I knew him.
Cheers Phil.
@@nickhickson8738 thanks👍
Sometimes people hit the thumbs down by accident and don't realise. Large fingers, small phone and all that
The skirting looks proud of the arch. I'd have coped the other board because you are less likely to see it looking down the hall, which is the direction you'll look at it from. It doesn't look like any attempt was made to keep a consistent gap between the board and the floor. Jesus, there are enough screws to pull it in. Maybe there are 12 other OCDs watching this. I am not alone.
Just when you think you have all you need to stick skirting on as a regular DIYer, then you watch the above video. Some great tips in there!!! Thanks!
Putting the tape on the floor first was a brilliant tip! I always like to caulk the skirting to a finished floor and having the tape on first would make it loads easier. I can’t believe I’ve never though of marking the scribe angle on the length first either. I always cut the scribe square and then rescribe it to the angle. A couple of tips for you... that plug cutter looks like mine and if you’re cutting out of material as thick as that skirting you can just cut right through and and then plugs will just pop out of the cutter, saves you having to dig them out of the wood. And secondly, use a multi tool to cut them off and sand them, a million times quicker and easier than a chisel. Might even be able to set a router flush with the surface on some plugs.
True craftsman...the attention to detail is great!
Love how the screw holes are covered up👍🏽 Good tip
Takes me back! Great vid fellas, never hurts to revisit old skills
Always a pleasure to watch
Some great tips there, loved the dowels, they were spot on chaps. Thanks for the videos, still learning bundles! 👍
Not Dowell, correct terminology, called pellets or grain pins.
That's some fine workmanship, I'm a fan of expanding foam myself but tend to use the gyproc adhesive rather than actual expanding foam. I really liked the masking tape trick. Proper job, well done
That tip to use expanding foam is great...I'll have some skirting to do very soon and am going to borrow that idea
Amazing level of skill, knowledge, detail and pride :)
Great vid, I've used sanding disks on my grinder to achieve similar back cut and cope.
Excellent video and craftsmanship! Great stuff! As a DIYer with minimal experience I fitted my own skirtings about 12 years ago when I renovated my house having never done anything like that before. I did it all with a hacksaw and by eye, (luckily I'm a perfectionist and pretty good with angles being I like playing pool now and then lol) anyway for some unknown reason EVERY WALL was out internal and external corners even the walls themselves! So I couldn't use a mitre saw on any of it! If LITERALLY had to eyeball it and hope for the best and luckily taking my time it came out perfect bit jees was it STRESSFUL! Any very slight gaps I burnished with a screw driver and filled any holes on the horizontal on the wall with decorators filler and I didn't use ANY fixings but I used LOADS of No Nails and a combination of ladders against the opposite wall and weights to hold the skirtings against the VERY wavey walls while it dried! Luckily they're ALL still in place even after having carpet fitted twice so been tested with Knee kickers and held up well! I didn't have an electric mitre saw just an old rusty BLUNT manual one wouldn't have been much help anyway! SO I improvised EVERYTHING with a mini hacksaw and sanded after if not smooth or to get contours.. YOUVE restored my faith in people who are like me measure twice cut once and perfectionists do a job properly/take pride in their work!! Just subscribed and will be checking out your other videos to get more tips tricks and knowledge. Top man! Excellent job mate! 👍😎
Looks lovely!
That’s a really good tip using the wooden plugs to fill the fixing holes on the skirting, a lot more easier than doing a fill with some wood filler and not being able to get it completely flush in one go, saves a load of time in regards to filling!
It's necessary if the skirting isn't being painted. This way it just looks like one unbroken piece of wood, instead of having visible circles of filler all along the skirting.
Great Video Roger and Top marks James I do mine the same way, it takes a bit more time but the job is always spot on. I like the masking tape trick I'll give it a go on the next job 👍🏻
What a quality job. Excellent!
Pretty much how I like to do it. Nicely demonstrated. Low key. Stress free.
Yay! I’m a pro already it seems! Self taught on skirtings and oddly I use the exact same method as James
The old adage "do you want it to be level or ,do you want it to look level" still stands
Another great video boys, well done 👏👍
As a decorator I can only say I wish all the trades I have to follow in were as careful/thoughtful with their work as this chap. I've just had to sort some brand new wood veneer skirting that had been 'fitted' with a nail gun! Nail heads were left protruding all over the place, one six ft length had about 20 pins fired into it as they were obviously struggling to get a fixing. Looked like a shot up Messerschmitt!
Fantastic job James
Another master class with James with a bucket full of 2 minute tips , superb . Roger , I bumped into the guy I served my time with the other day. A brilliant bricky who put me through my apprenticeship. He is still bricklaying and he turns 84 next month ! And he looks great ( rare for a bricky ) but he ALWAYS used to say “If it looks right it is right “ just as you said Rog 😉🧱👍🏼
Never a truer word said!
@@jimichip 😉🧱👍🏽
I must have met him. Actually it may have come from the brickie I worked with who also said "Your eye is your best friend".
@@SkillBuilder . Spot on . You may have gone to school together ? You’re about the same age aren’t you Rog 😉😆😆🧱👍🏽
Nice to see properly coped internals. 😉👍
Appreciate the tips. Nice job.
Excellent presentation of how it should be done! Some brilliant tips.
Proper job, enjoyed that
I’ve saved so much money watching your videos. Used the step over method for rafter length to replace a conservatory roof now the wife wants me to do the main roof. Thank you. Excellent tutorials and priceless info.
Nice to know that you adjust the the wall to fit external mitres to.
Great job and plenty of useful tips. Thanks!
Well explained. I like Robins videos but this chap explains it better.
Good saying If it looks right it is right, spot on & the way I do mine can't beat the drill countersink plug bits love em, saves so much time and a perfect job I cut plugs off with Japanese saw then just block plane off or sand up in secand works a treat
Learned a new method here in the USA Phoenix. This looks amazing. That’ll last 100years
Very smart job!
Nice bit of attention to detail & craftsmanship.
Really good providing some really good insight for a job that's most, including me, hate.
I like to cut the plugs from the back of the board. Right next to the holes that give me plugs with very close colour and shade. Thanks for another great tip video.
That is a clever idea.
Great tip!
Great work guys
A sharp chisel, one of life's pleasures, lol. great job.
Well I thought I had the basic idea on how to fit my skirting but after this video I'm completely lost. This is definitely more skilled than many of the others I have watched.
Up and down the entire nation wives are watching Eastenders and Corrie, and their husbands have got the ipad and are watching "how to fit skirting boards".
My hubby is watching footy on the telly, I'm the one watching 'how to fit skirting boards' as I'm the one who does the diy.
@@quiteabitmad Good for you!
@@quiteabitmad your hubby is lucky, have him cook you up a nice course meal some time
And everyone is totally freaking out over the Torx mark at 17:00 and completely disregarding all the other craftsmanship that has gone in to the job previously :)
Nonsense, I hate soaps, never watch them; I love DiY and carpentry
very informative
What good workmanship well done👍👍👍
Well done. Perfect job...👍👍👍
this is how i do my boards. It's true the first few times you do it is frustrating but the method + time becomes a bit of a meditation :D
Really enjoy watching, always been a nemesis for me but after watching this and the tips given i might just make an ok job next time on my home projects. But not to the standard you do. Thank you for posting
You can do it!
Enjoyable video, thanks
Good to see how it should be done, I’ve been bodging it for years 👍🏻 thanks for the video
Omg that’s skills right there. Don’t think I can do that but I’ll give it a try. Thank you 😊
Great job James I always use this method but the tape is a great idea.I also use a palm router to take the top off the plugs just set it to the depth but put a bit of tape under it when setting the depth one rub of sandpaper job done. Keep up the good work first class.
Cheers Jake. Nice tip with the router and how to set it up!
The scribe should always be hidden from sight from the doorway/entrance so that if the joints open up slightly you cannot look into them. Like the use of the tape underneath. If the walls are out a bit I like to run a bead of painter's caulk on the back to it prior to fixing then just wipe off the excess. 👍
Just how we were taught years ago, using the entrance to the room to determine which ends are scrbes and which are straight cuts.
Good to see James back on the SB. Never tried the expanding foam as a fixer before but does make sense, I use a Veritas Flush cutting saw on plugs. Before I first use the saw I always 'take off' one side of the saw with some sandpaper as invariably even when you are careful the teeth mark the wood. Brilliant video Guys👍🏻
Ian uses the Veritas flush cutting saw. It’s a great tool!
With regards to cutting the plugs when you have a lot to do. I carry a wafer thin piece of steel which I cut a hole in which slips over the plug. I then use the multi cutter to strip them back without damaging the timber, followed by a light sand.... jobs a buck!! Very efficient. Also with internal corners. If the bottom of the straight cut piece falls in at the bottom you can put a plug and screw in the wall behind it and adjust the screw to take the flex.
Great tip, we're having that.
Here's a skirting tip for you... Use "skirting bricks" lol, i often say to the labourers on site "don't take my skirting bricks" when they're cleaning up having a laugh like but here's why i use them and why others I've met on site have started to use "skirting bricks" aa well 😂 It's simply a method i discovered for quicker, easier and more accurate measurements wall to wall over longer runs, place a brick either end and one in the middle (roughly) this will stop the tape measure from bowing, the height of the brick is roughly centre height of the skirting board and by using this method being raised off the floor means the end of your tape measure doesn't slide into that annoying gap between bottom of plaster board and the floor hook tape over brick and the weight of the brick will hold it there while you make your way to the other end of the wall, then just push it back a few mm if it's slightly off the wall where you started from and you will have a much more accurate measurement "Skirting bricks" 😂 Simple method that more and more people i meet on site are now using, give it a try my fellow chippies, ha 👍😉👌
I remember serving my apprentice and luckily I only ever fitted MDF moulding so much easier to correct mistakes (as an apprentice) and a lot more flexible, then hit a brick wall with a 12” torus I just couldnt get the scribe rite, it’s a bit easier now 10 years down the line!! 😂😂 Love James’s work though keep it up 😎😎
That’s exactly how I fit skirting boards including the tape on the floor. Works every time. Job well done 👍
love this channel lots of tips lots of skill and for once most of the comments are banter or sharing sorted
Thanks, lots of really practical advice.
Nice one guys 👌🏼🏴👍🏼
A much quicker way is making a Scribe Block . This is a piece of skirting say 200mm long with a scribe on each end . You then push your required skirting up to the fixed skirting . Now place the scribe block against the fixed skirting and draw around the skirting that needs a scribe ... This will replicate if the fixed skirting is out of plumb . Sorry about my awful description, it’s easier to do rather than describe the procedure. Great video though
That’s how I do it. In fact I think I saw Mr Clevett recommending the scribe template tip on this very channel 😆
yes there are lots of ways to do it. The way James does it allows for floors which are not level
I seen lots of chippies get good results using your method. Personally I do it more or less the same way as JK. For the same reasons too.
Correct,I'm a Carpenter and Joiner and that's how ive done it for years, with an offcut 8" pattern scribe . I scribe to floor too and ALWAYS paint prime back of timber to prevent cupping. I put Gripfil on back and plug and screw.
Nice work James. 😉
Cheers Dan.
Great video, I should have searched for this a week ago, would have saved so much time, and head scratching
Really incredible. It's an art form these trades... wonderful. Thank you
When I renovated my last house, which was Edwardian, we had wide skirting boards (8" or so) topped with a staff bead. I wanted to leave the wood bare to match the floors which I'd had stripped and waxed. So I stripped off 100 years worth of paint (lead, yuk) and the grain was revealed, nicely aged, knots and all. I didn't want to use dowels and it was too thin anyway. So the whole lot was pinned. There were blocks of wood behind, which is how they did it back then, so it was pretty easy to get back on. I had to put my own blocks on in places but they looked the business when done. Rustic and original, which was what I wanted in that house.
Yes those wooden soldiers (grounds) in the back make the job a lot easier. They used to put them behind door linings and all sorts of things. It was before the days of electric drills so it made life easier.
@@SkillBuilder I remember my dad (shipwright by trade) making wooden wedges and hand chiselling a slow helix on them from thick to thin so that they would twist slightly as they were being hammered in between the bricks and lock themselves in thereby providing a base for nails or screws.
A great video THANKS
lovely work
Fantastic work bro
Very well thought out process for fitting the skirting. Great tips. There are woodworkers that have shown that the only two miter saws that have blades that are perpendicular to the back fence when beveled are the Bosch and Festool saws. They instead put the wood vertical on the table and set the table angle to the desired angle to make the cut.
That wont get you the correct angle unless it is 90 degrees
I just had to use an Evolution RM210 to produce internal and external bevels, where walls and floors are both way out, I used 45 90 45 set square to fine tune the blade, bevel, fence relationships and it came out perfect. No downwards pressure though.
I don't know why KZhead recommended this to me, but I watched the whole thing. Fascinating.
Proper job!
Great workmanship there!!
Another great video
Some good tradesmen on this channel.
excellent job nice one
Thanks for the video. Great work! How would you cut the scrib if the skirting boards are square?
Another great looking job James, and I always followed much the same proceedure when I was working, never used foam though and i'd doubt if the foremen would buy it anyway. I thought you might like 1 tip get yourself a Veritas flush cutting saw, there great if you are plugging skirting much to trim those plugs and will do the job in half the time as well.
Ian uses one and it’s great but he wasn’t there that day!
Last time i saw how to fit skirting boards like this, was Tommy Walsh and Alan over 15 yrs ago. Old school method !!
Love these videos. May I ask, why not get Gripfill and use that instead of drilling for fasteners. And also do you use expansion foam to stuck them as opposed to anything else?
A good informative video by the very likeable James. However, it's not best practice to work from left to right, or vis-a-versa. For example, if you did an fireplace alcove you would want to do a full-length on the back piece and then fit the left and right pieces after. Working that way you 'hide' the scribe from direct viewing. And that's the general rule that you cut the scribe in the least visible side. I'd also back cut at just a few degrees (on a 90 degree corner) rather than 15 degrees. That way you can dab some glue on the scribe and achieve a better bond on the two meeting surfaces. I'm not sure I'd recommend cutting the plaster bead; you could get into all sorts of problem. I'd just knock off any excess plaster below the skirting and cut the skirting to suit. A couple of scrap pieces of skirting with a 45 degree cut can be used to 'test' the corner before cutting on the saw. You soon get an eye for how to adjust your saw to cut a corner. And of course mitre bond the two pieces of the external corner before fixing into position.
Lots of ways to do it George. What problems do you come across when cutting the bead. I have always done it because they often kick out.
@@SkillBuilder Of course there's lots of ways to do a job. However, if you title you video "like a Pro" then you invite constructive comment, which mine was. And the "Pro" way to fit skirting is to position the scribes out of direct line of sight whenever possible. So you can't just say work from left to right or vis-a-versa. You cut the scribe where they're least visible. On the beading, i can see it being easy to 'crack' the plaster on the wall along the bead, you can also end up with the bead over the skirting, which you wouldn't want. Also, on a price work job you couldn't possibly lose time cutting plaster beads back. It's much easier, quicker and just as neat to cut the skirting to suit (sometimes you have to scallop out the back of the skiting with a chisel in extreme cases). I like James, and he strives for a high quality job. Take my comment in the constructive way it was sent.
Great video a joiner i worked with many years ago used to put a saw cut in the plugs to allow any air or excess glue to come out
Just realising that James is about as much a perfectionist as Robin.
Very kind of you to say but I have a long way to go!
@@jimichip you're cut from the same cloth I'm sure. Keep 'em coming 👍