Glossing skirting boards

[Jackdaniels]

Please help and advise................
I am about to gloss (satinwood) many metres of skirting,
1 - would it be advisable to sand them down thoroughly first or would a light sanding be adequate?
2 - Undercoat next?
3 - How to stop any drip marks from the satinwood?
4 - The whole area is carpeted, other than a steady hand how can I avoid getting any paint on the carpet??

Many thanks in advance!!!
JD
]

 

[leewill]

As long as there aren`t any runs on the skirting already a light sanding will be fine.

No need for undercoat you`ve already got a pretty good undercoat with the existing gloss, don`t jam loads of paint on the brush take your time to avoid runs little and often,

as for not getting it on your carpet i use a wallpaper cutter, straight and metal and force it down the carpet and then paint above, paint will go onto this and should be wiped off everytime you move along, alternatively, get a shed load of cardboard from the corner shop cut it into strips, use in the same way but bin after you move along...............

 

[Jackdaniels]

Thanks Lee, so sanding and undercoat is really not necessary then..........I was always under the impression it was a must.

 

[Robbie uk]

Depends weather or not the existing paint is good enough to accept a top coat. You cant just keep glossing on gloss. Sometimes you need to have an undercoat for the topcoat to adhere properly. A light sanding as said is usually sufficient.
The best way to protect the carpet is with a roll of 1" wide masking tape. Lay this on the carpet right up to the woodwork, paint the wood work and pull up the tape pulling away from the wood before the paint dries. as you pull the tape away this will pull the pile of the carpet back up and also grab any hairs, dust etc with it. Using card is not good enough as the paint can creep behind.

 

[leewill]

In my experience masking tape doesn`t stick to carpet very well, and when you pull it up the static makes the pile rise up and stick to the skirting board, not to mention all kind of other crap you didn`t know was there, cardboard was just a suggestion, i`ve never used it i`ve always used my metal wall paper cutter, but yeah as long as the paint isn`t flaking just a light rubbing down will be fine.....

 

[dextrous]

Ref the carpet. Personally I tend to lift the edges of the carpet and fold it onto itself and sometimes use a bit of tape to hold it back. Paint, leave overnight, then drop carpet back next day.

 

[opps]

I too use masking tape, 25 mm wide and tuck it in to the gap between the skirting and carpet using a wide filler knife.

I have never noticed any static issues or lack of adhesion???

You do need to watch out for the inevitable paint build up where the tape touches the skirting. I normally take the tape up the day after finishing and remove the build up with a finger nail.

A downside to the metal strip option is the risk of the carpet sticking to the skirting, especially if the pile is long.

The best option (when possible) is to pull the carpet back- I drive screws through the carpet to stop it from flopping back.