The Running Commentary of Cutting & Fitting Skirting Board

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Small project to refurb and redecorate the utility room.

Putting new skirting boards on today.

A few tricky mitres to cut - I am going to need the patience of a saint or a qualified joiner

First piece cut. The longest piece at 1572mm. Less the thickness of the pencil and saw and the sliding tape measure end. Look we're off to a good start - it fits and the 45 degree internal corner mitre is a joy to behold.

Now the next piece is a small piece with a mitre at each end.

I could be here all day just on that piece

I don't know how much tea and patience I'm going to get through today

If this goes well I may just put some photographs up and claim bragging rights. If not I'm take the lid of a tin of grey paint and watch it dry

AiY(D)

[servodude]

Now the next piece is a small piece with a mitre at each end.

Battery powered mitre saw is a really useful thing in these circumstances
- take it to where it's needed
and keep cutting smaller until it's rightb

[Urbandreamer]

First piece cut. The longest piece at 1572mm. Less the thickness of the pencil and saw and the sliding tape measure end. Look we're off to a good start - it fits and the 45 degree internal corner mitre is a joy to behold.

Now the next piece is a small piece with a mitre at each end.

I could be here all day just on that piece

I don't know how much tea and patience I'm going to get through today

Good luck with this.

One quick point though. Your 45 degree mitre only works if your room angles are "square". Many are not. The solution is to use a coping saw and scribed joint.

[88V8]

Putting new skirting boards on today.
....the 45 degree internal corner mitre is a joy to behold.

Errrm, skirtings - and picture and dado rails - should not have internal mitres, because there is no means of fastening one piece to another. Corrupt modern practice....
They should be scribed, then they can be skew-nailed and there will never be a visible gap.
Here is a jolly good how-to.

Alternatively, one can always stand furniture in front of it

V8

[kempiejon]

Now the next piece is a small piece with a mitre at each end.

Battery powered mitre saw is a really useful thing in these circumstances
- take it to where it's needed
and keep cutting smaller until it's rightb

I did coving and skirting in 2 rooms some years ago. I have a sliding bevelling mitre saw but I didn't have true corners. Looking for tips I saw a vid online of a guy doing mitre joints with an angle grinder. I didn't copy his technique but it looked good. I used a coping saw.

edit to add vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrVBbDY ... arpentryTV

[bungeejumper]

Errrm, skirtings - and picture and dado rails - should not have internal mitres, because there is no means of fastening one piece to another. Corrupt modern practice....
They should be scribed, then they can be skew-nailed and there will never be a visible gap.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. There's this stuff called Gripfill, which does quite a spiffy job on skirting boards, including fixing mitred corners together. (And the odd bit of filling, where required.) Skew-nailing is just asking for splits and hammer dents in your double Edwardians.

But hey, each to his own. We've just done 60 metres of plain-ish skirting boards (in a shop), and it was almost alarmingly simple. Another small tip is to rigidly clamp your skirting board into the mitre block so that nothing can wobble or deviate while you're sawing. (Yes, that does happen.) You can always do your final angle-adjusting with an angle grinder, as suggested, but I prefer to use a medium/coarse disc sander, which I find eats its way to perfection in a more predictable fashion.

Goodness, are we in the right forum here? I seem to have left my compass at home.

BJ

[AsleepInYorkshire]

Internal mitre gets a healthy 8/10

External mitre gets a ... well ... 2/10. Decorators caulk should get it to at least 5/10

With some very thick paint I'm sure it will be 5.25/10

I will console myself with the fact it's the utility room and as the dogs have a dog door it sometimes gets a bit muddy in that area

Two more external mitres to go

AiY(D)
News at 12, the utility room

[88V8]

Errrm, skirtings - and picture and dado rails - should not have internal mitres, because there is no means of fastening one piece to another. Corrupt modern practice....
They should be scribed, then they can be skew-nailed and there will never be a visible gap.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. There's this stuff called Gripfill, which does quite a spiffy job on skirting boards, including fixing mitred corners together. (And the odd bit of filling, where required.) Skew-nailing is just asking for splits and hammer dents in your double Edwardians.

Skew nailing does not split the wood if one drills a slightly undersize pilot hole, and no hammer dents if one uses a pin punch.
Gripfill.... more corruption, good grief I thought Colombia was bad Fish glue was good enough for my grandfather and it's good enough for me mutter mutter

V8

[bungeejumper]

Gripfill.... more corruption, good grief I thought Colombia was bad Fish glue was good enough for my grandfather and it's good enough for me mutter mutter

Fish glue? Now you're talking. Takes me back to my primary school days. Oh god, the smell is still in my nostrils. Give me rabbit skin glue any day!

BJ

[stevensfo]

Small project to refurb and redecorate the utility room.

Putting new skirting boards on today.

A few tricky mitres to cut - I am going to need the patience of a saint or a qualified joiner

First piece cut. The longest piece at 1572mm. Less the thickness of the pencil and saw and the sliding tape measure end. Look we're off to a good start - it fits and the 45 degree internal corner mitre is a joy to behold.

Now the next piece is a small piece with a mitre at each end.

I could be here all day just on that piece

I don't know how much tea and patience I'm going to get through today

If this goes well I may just put some photographs up and claim bragging rights. If not I'm take the lid of a tin of grey paint and watch it dry

AiY(D)

This brings back memories that occasionally haunt me. I've tried it all. Wallpapering, building walls in the garden, putting up kitchen units, bathroom sinks, coving, skirting boards ** etc. Despite a few successes, I have to admit, looking back, that most of my attempts could have been taken straight out of Mr Bean or Some Mothers do 'ave 'em! But years ago, I had more energy and believed I could do anything.

What I learned over the years, though slightly too late, was that it pays to have good quality tools. My very first jigsaw, chainsaw, other saws, mitres etc were cheap and nasty and had minds of their own. My jigsaw decided where 'it' wanted to go, not me!

Now that I can finally afford good tools ( I love the Makita and Ryobi cordless!) I can also afford to pay someone else to do the &^%!! work for me.

Steve

PS ** Am I really the only one who has cut a skirting board at exactly 45 degrees, but in the wrong direction?

[bungeejumper]

PS ** Am I really the only one who has cut a skirting board at exactly 45 degrees, but in the wrong direction?

Good god, no, we've all done it. It's practically a rite of passage. We males have convinced ourselves over the millennia that we have a genetically better level of 3D spatial awareness than our better halves, and this is God's way of telling us that she doesn't agree.

It sort of cuts us down to size. Which is more than can be said for the skirting boards.

BJ

[swill453]

PS ** Am I really the only one who has cut a skirting board at exactly 45 degrees, but in the wrong direction?

Or cut the lino or carpet, very carefully leaving extra margin, only to find you've got the angle reversed and actually taken an extra chunk out of the bit you meant to keep.

Scott.

[88V8]

PS ** Am I really the only one who has cut a skirting board at exactly 45 degrees, but in the wrong direction?

Or cut the lino or carpet, very carefully leaving extra margin, only to find you've got the angle reversed and actually taken an extra chunk out of the bit you meant to keep.

Yust indeedy.
Currently I'm narrowing a pair of C17 doors. Dismantled, shortened the rails, cutting new slightly complex tenons.
Measure twice cut once does not begin to cover it. More like measure four times with two different rulers....

V8

[bungeejumper]

Currently I'm narrowing a pair of C17 doors. Dismantled, shortened the rails, cutting new slightly complex tenons.
Measure twice cut once does not begin to cover it. More like measure four times with two different rulers....

I had that experience the other week, when fitting some new fire doors. I had to figure out whether to order left or right handed hinges? (Yes, there's a difference.) The online instructions are as follows:

1) Stand in front of the door and open it. (In your mind, of course, because it isn't actually there, because it hasn't got any bloody hinges yet....)

2) Walk through the doorway, take two paces forward, then turn round. If the place where the door catch ought to be is on your right, that means you need a left handed hinge. If it's on your left, a right handed hinge. Or possibly the reverse - I forget.

3) Stop and think. Hang on, which side of this notional door were you on before you "opened" it? If it was the "wrong" side, then forget all the foregoing, because you need the opposite handedness. Or not, as the case may be.....

4) Re-enter the room, close your eyes, cross your fingers, and repeat the magic incantation:

"Mirror, mirror, on the door.
Remind me what my brain is for?"

BJ

[BullDog]

Currently I'm narrowing a pair of C17 doors. Dismantled, shortened the rails, cutting new slightly complex tenons.
Measure twice cut once does not begin to cover it. More like measure four times with two different rulers....

I had that experience the other week, when fitting some new fire doors. I had to figure out whether to order left or right handed hinges? (Yes, there's a difference.) The online instructions are as follows:

1) Stand in front of the door and open it. (In your mind, of course, because it isn't actually there, because it hasn't got any bloody hinges yet....)

2) Walk through the doorway, take two paces forward, then turn round. If the place where the door catch ought to be is on your right, that means you need a left handed hinge. If it's on your left, a right handed hinge. Or possibly the reverse - I forget.

3) Stop and think. Hang on, which side of this notional door were you on before you "opened" it? If it was the "wrong" side, then forget all the foregoing, because you need the opposite handedness. Or not, as the case may be.....

4) Re-enter the room, close your eyes, cross your fingers, and repeat the magic incantation:

"Mirror, mirror, on the door.
Remind me what my brain is for?"

BJ

Ah but...... Whether the door opens outwards or inwards doesn't change which side the catch or hinges will be located on.

[Dod101]

Currently I'm narrowing a pair of C17 doors. Dismantled, shortened the rails, cutting new slightly complex tenons.
Measure twice cut once does not begin to cover it. More like measure four times with two different rulers....

I had that experience the other week, when fitting some new fire doors. I had to figure out whether to order left or right handed hinges? (Yes, there's a difference.) The online instructions are as follows:

1) Stand in front of the door and open it. (In your mind, of course, because it isn't actually there, because it hasn't got any bloody hinges yet....)

2) Walk through the doorway, take two paces forward, then turn round. If the place where the door catch ought to be is on your right, that means you need a left handed hinge. If it's on your left, a right handed hinge. Or possibly the reverse - I forget.

3) Stop and think. Hang on, which side of this notional door were you on before you "opened" it? If it was the "wrong" side, then forget all the foregoing, because you need the opposite handedness. Or not, as the case may be.....

4) Re-enter the room, close your eyes, cross your fingers, and repeat the magic incantation:

"Mirror, mirror, on the door.
Remind me what my brain is for?"

BJ

My father was an old fashioned joiner/cabinetmaker and he did this sort of thing all the time. Clever fellow.

There was a comment about using the right tools further up the thread. Before starting a job, the first thing he did was sharpen his tools, chisels, saws etc. I still have most of them but am the most useless handyman that ever lived I am sorry to say.

Dod

[bungeejumper]

Ah but...... Whether the door opens outwards or inwards doesn't change which side the catch or hinges will be located on.

Ah yes, my dear Watson, but..... If you're standing on the "wrong" side of the door, the catch that was supposed to be on your right would now be on your left. Which would seem to reverse your choice of hinge-handedness......

Or not. My brain hurts.

BJ

[Watis]

Ah but...... Whether the door opens outwards or inwards doesn't change which side the catch or hinges will be located on.

Ah yes, my dear Watson, but..... If you're standing on the "wrong" side of the door, the catch that was supposed to be on your right would now be on your left. Which would seem to reverse your choice of hinge-handedness......

Or not. My brain hurts.

BJ

Looking at my hinges, it would appear that simply turning them upside-down would switch their handedness from left to right, or vice-versa.

Or have I missed something?

Watis

[BullDog]

Ah but...... Whether the door opens outwards or inwards doesn't change which side the catch or hinges will be located on.

Ah yes, my dear Watson, but..... If you're standing on the "wrong" side of the door, the catch that was supposed to be on your right would now be on your left. Which would seem to reverse your choice of hinge-handedness......

Or not. My brain hurts.

BJ

Looking at my hinges, it would appear that simply turning them upside-down would switch their handedness from left to right, or vice-versa.

Or have I missed something?

Watis

If they're rising hinges that won't work?

[Dod101]

And another thing about hanging a door is that it has to be absolutely square in the door frame (assuming of course that the door frame itself is square) If it is off only by a fraction it will not open or close properly.

I used to marvel at my old man making things and the sort of stuff mentioned here was second nature to him. Takes me back. Must be getting old.

Dod