Skirting Board expansion gap?

[MortarThePoint]

Time to fit skirting. For internal corners I'll use a square cut and scribe the other piece. Than makes me wonder if I should cut the piece with the square end tight to the gap or leave a little gap for expansion? I know wood doesn't move much in length (along grain) though.

 

I may be more likely to have shrinkage after installation as the wood dries.

 

Over thinking it and just cut tight?

[Beau]

Just cut tight.

 

As you say wood does not expand and shrink much along it's length 

[Nickfromwales]

27 minutes ago, MortarThePoint said:

Time to fit skirting. For internal corners I'll use a square cut and scribe the other piece. Than makes me wonder if I should cut the piece with the square end tight to the gap or leave a little gap for expansion? I know wood doesn't move much in length (along grain) though.

 

I may be more likely to have shrinkage after installation as the wood dries.

 

Over thinking it and just cut tight?

Yup. Tight as.

 

Do you know the trick for cutting the scribe? Eg you cut it with a mitre saw and then run the coping saw along the line?

 

I use the mitre saw to cut up the vertical line first and stop short of the detail, as that gets a nice clean edge, but this method also allows you to correct an angle if you’re meeting up with a previous piece they’d not perfectly plumb.

[MortarThePoint]

For clarity I'm using pine not MDF

[Nickfromwales]

36 minutes ago, MortarThePoint said:

For clarity I'm using pine not MDF

Yup. MDF skirting sucks. Ok for architraves but anything getting whacked by hoovers etc, particularly on external corners, needs to be able to take the abuse. 

[Oz07]

The benefit of a scribe is you can be tight or a few mm loose and it doesn't usually matter as it gets caulked in at top of skirting. Try to keep scribes all to the same side of the skirting so you work 1 way round room. 

[Nickfromwales]

9 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

The benefit of a scribe is you can be tight or a few mm loose and it doesn't usually matter as it gets caulked in at top of skirting. Try to keep scribes all to the same side of the skirting so you work 1 way round room. 

I do them so your perspective view as you enter the room doesn't 'see' any (or as few as is possible) of the filled joint.

 

You should be looking at the running skirting and not the cut & scribed one, if that makes sense?

 

If filled and painted, and caulked etc, then prob not a worry, but we've just done a bucket load of oak and I was quite adamant about that detail for that particular job.

 

Paint the underside and face of each length of pine, with water based eggshell, with a 4" roller, before cutting and fitting. Makes paintwork and cutting in a doddle. Stay away from oil based "gloss" etc, as that's a load of repeat maintenance you can extend the frequency of if the paint doesn't yellow. Water based stuff dries really fast if it's not a cold space, so just have a painting day before the fitting day, and thank me later   

[MortarThePoint]

First room done, all to be filled and painted. CT1 and Lost-Tite screws. My external joint wasn't very good but I prioritised the detailed portion. Also, not very good at coping but hopefully filler will hide my sins. 

 

170*20 ogee skirting with 90*32*190 chamfered plinth blocks.

 

External corner:

 

 

Coping:

 

 

Plinth block: 

 

 

[MortarThePoint]

17 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Paint the underside and face of each length of pine, with water based eggshell, with a 4" roller, before cutting and fitting.

 

Oops, didn't spot this as was cracking on. I've got a painter who will be doing the painting. I'm going with Scuff-X satin I think as it should be more forgiving than eggshell 

Edited June 20 by MortarThePoint

[Nickfromwales]

7 hours ago, MortarThePoint said:

 

Oops, didn't spot this as was cracking on. I've got a painter who will be doing the painting. I'm going with Scuff-X satin I think as it should be more forgiving than eggshell 

Eggshell as the base as it covers well in a single coat, so I should have clarified that was not the finish... oops!

 

My point is about the amount of cutting-in that process saves you, down at the junction between the skirting and the flooring, which is a PITA if you've got nerves like mine lol.