Architraves & Skirting

Back into the architraves again today.  Rich had me in the laundry concentrating on the hot water cupboard so that the hot water cylinder could be installed.  Did the skotia and architraves fine, and then learnt how to do the skirting.

With the skirting, the same principles are followed as doing the skotia, so the back wall is the first to have the skirting attached (both with straight cuts).  From here the side lengths are done. The end butting up against the already fixed skirting will have to have a 'fake mitre' done to give the appearance of a mitre join, but not really being one.  The reason this is done, is to allow for movement where no matter where the timber goes, it always looks like a mitre and won't show any gaps (as it would if a mitre was really done & movement occurred).  The other end of the length will just have a straight cut.

To achieve the 'fake mitre' the end requiring it needs to be cut at a 45 degree angle (to create an actual mitre cut).  The timber is stood on edge and cut at this angle, and then a hand saw or the drop saw is used to cut straight down along the edge of the mitre cut (which will create a straight edge).  It is best to have this cut slightly undercut, so rather than setting the drop saw to '0', it can be set to '1/10' to create the undercut automatically.  The cut should be done so that it is approximately 1-2mm away from cutting off the beveled edge.

From here a coping saw is used to cut thinly across so that it leaves a thin triangular shape on the beveled edge of the skirting which when rested against the already fixed skirting will give the appearance of a mitre join.

Once done, the skirting can then be fixed using 40mm finishing nails or panel pins, at regular intervals of approximately 200-300mm & also where needed to hold it hard against the wall.

Before attaching the skirting, its important to check that the nails and screws that will sit underneath it are flush against the gib so it doesn't cause the skirting to jut out.

This process is continued until all of the skirting is done.