Fixing skirting board to brick walls

[Finally_motivated]

I have removed old skirting board (approx 100 yrs old)and found that they were nailed to grounds (chocks of wood) which were hammered into the perp (vertical) joints of the brickwork.
Obviously, this was a very labour intensive way of fixing the skirting to the wall. What is the general way of fixing these days. I am reluctant to make grounds myself but am open to suggestions. Many thanks.

 

[Diyisfun]

No nails, Masonary nails, screws.

Depends on what type of finish you require,
ie paint / varnish
condition of wall
I dont think there is a right way

 

[JohnD]

my favourite way (might not be the right one) is to put 18mm battens onto the wall, where the top and the bottom of the skirting will be, with plasplugs, and then later lightly screw the skirts onto the battens. Doesn't split the boards or crack the bricks like the old cut nails sometimes did, the battens give you a nice edge to plaster to, and you can finally fix the skirting boards after all the dirty work is done. If you ever need to take them off, you just have to find the screw heads.

If you want to, you can also run speaker wires or aerial co-ax behind the skirting.