How To Fit Skirting Board In Place Step By Step Guide

Read on to discover how to fit skirting boards in place, whether you’re starting fresh or replacing existing ones!

Before Fitting

You’ll need to understand how to join the skirting board in the corners before you begin fitting it – with the two most common types of joints being internal and external. Internal corners face inwards, whereas external corners face outwards.

If you’re fitting a skirting board to an external corner, it’s recommended to use a mitre joint. This allows for the shape of the skirting to continue when following around the corner. You should use a mitre box and a high-quality saw for this. Be aware that if using a mitre box, you can either fix it in place with screws to an offcut piece of wood or use a workbench to assist you.

Fitting The Skirting Board

Step 1: On the back edge of the skirting board, mark the position of the corner and make a note of the angle the cut needs to be in. You can do this by making a temporary direction mark on the skirting board near the cutting mark.

Step 2: Holding firmly and securely in place, make the cut. To prevent any damage from occurring as you saw, position the board so that you’re sawing the front face of it.

When you’re cutting a long skirting, it’s a good idea to use a temporary support at the other end, such as a pile of boards, so that it’s kept level with the base of the mitre box as you saw it.

Step 3: Using fine sandpaper, clean the cut surface to ensure it is smooth and tidy. You then need to make sure that the board forms a tight joint – if there’s a gap in the joint preventing it from having a tight fit, use a sharp chisel or block pane to shave off a small amount of the skirting in order for the gap to close.

Step 4: You need to cut a scribed joint for any internal corners. A scribed joint is where one part of the skirting board is cut square, and the other piece is shaped to the profile of the skirting board. The profiled piece can then push up to the face of the square cut piece.

Step 5: Using a mitre box, you then need to carefully and accurately cut the end of the skirting board that needs to have the profiled end (this is done in the same way you would if you were going to form an internal mitre joint). This provides a profile of the skirting board that you can then use to cut against with a coping saw or jigsaw.

Step 6: Next, set out your scribed joints so that you don’t need to make a profiled cut on both ends of a single piece of skirting board. It’s a lot easier to mark up a square cut from a profiled cut than it is to do it the other way round, so if you need to cut a single piece of skirting board, make sure you always cut the profiled end first.

Step 7: If you’re fixing skirting boards onto a masonry wall such as brick or block, use masonry nails or screws and wall plugs to do so. If you’re attaching the skirting to a timber stud partition wall, you’ll need to use lost head nails and a stud detector to locate the studs.

If your home has metal stud partition walls, like some of the newer built homes have, you’ll then need to use screws for the job - remember to make sure you use plated screws or zinc coated screws so that they don’t rust.

You could also stick the skirting to the wall using a gap filling grab adhesive. If there are any cavities that require filling to the wall, use an infill board.

Step 8: If you are using adhesive, apply blobs to the back of the board that are spaced at regular intervals and apply PVA glue to any of the external mitres. You may need to also use some small diameter pins to hold the joint tightly together.

Step 9: From here, simply fix the skirting board by placing its bottom edge to the floor just in front of the fixing position, and then push firmly against the wall. You shouldn’t need any additional fixings if the wall’s flat, but if it’s bowed, you’ll need additional screw fixings to draw the skirting to the wall.

Step 10: If you’re using screws, mark the skirting board so that the fixing points are approximately 2cm below the start of the chamfer (the sloping surface at the edge), at 60cm intervals. Then, position the skirting board flat along the floor and push up the wall, copying the fixing points.

Remember to mark the wall behind the skirting, so it is invisible once installed. Use a pipe and cable detector and if either are detected, move the fixing point along to an area that’s clear. Once you’re happy with the fixing point’s locations, drill a pilot hole into the skirting board using the correct wood drill bit.

Step 11: Using a countersink bit, create a countersink at each fixing hole. This needs to be both deep enough and big enough to allow the screwhead to be below the face of the skirting board. Once you’ve placed the board in position, make marks through the screw holes onto the wall before taking the skirting away to check each mark can be seen.

Step 12: Next, wrap masking tape around the drill (as long as the length of the wall plug) so that you’ll know when to stop drilling and then drill the holes into the wall. Insert the wall plugs and tap them until they’re flush with the wall.

Step 13: Screw the skirting board onto the wall and fill any holes left with a filler that matches the colour of the skirting.

Step 14: Using a flexible decorative caulk in a mastic gun, seal the gap between the top of the skirting board and the wall. You can use a damp cloth along the joint to smooth it.