Painting scabby door trims and skirtings - advice needed pls

[Lucy6892]

Hi

This is my first post on this forum so please be kind! I am trying to make good some old door frames and skirting boards in my new house (taken a bit too much on!) they seem to be layered thick with paint and old caulk which is now all built up and cracking and peeling and gross.

I have tried to sand this down and pick out as much as possible as you may see from my pictures. And have now applied fresh caulk down the gap.

I can't see this ever having the smooth finish I envisage after painting. Should I have stripped more off? It is still very bumpy and peely.

As for the skirting a I have picked off a lot of the old joint to the wall and now am left with a big gap that the caulk doesn't seem to fill (see pictures) and also peeling wrecked paint above the skirting, do I need to do something to this to achieve a smooth finish as I can't see how painting over it will help?

Any advice would be really appreciated. Please forgive me being so naive, I am a real newbie. It looks to me as though it would have been easier to rip off the skirting and start again, though I gather this is easier said than done!

Grateful for help,

Many thanks

Lucy[/img]

 

[misterhelpful]

They do need a little bit of work to get them looking good, but it's not as difficult as you might imagine.

I would use a shave hook and/or scraper to remove the existing caulk and then use sandpaper to sand the areas smooth. Use a fine surface filler to level out any areas of peeled paint from either surface and again sand smooth. Wipe off the dust and fill the gaps between timber and walls with new caulk, smooth off with a wetted finger or damp sponge and allow to dry. (You could prime any bare wood and the fine surface filler before caulking which would reduce the risk of the caulk cracking as it dries). You are then ready to start painting - just be aware that it may look a little worse before it looks better.

Welcome to the madhouse!

 

[Lucy6892]

Thanks so much for your fast reply. Did my pictures manage to show up on the post? They really do look awful at the minute and that's after I've sanded them. Just to clarify, I can put the fine filler on the side of the wooden door frames to even out the cracking paint?

The same thing has happened around the windows too, large cracks that I have caulked but at the moment can still see the crack! Will this disappear when I paint or should I use a filler?

Thanks for your advice

 

[misterhelpful]

The images don't show in your post but we can see your album by clicking on your username. To show them in a post, click on the 'Show My Images' link below the text box where you type and select the images you want to display from your albums.

The fine surface filler can be used on the walls or the woodwork where a layer of paint has peeled but not in the actual joint. Ideally, you would need to remove all traces of existing caulk (or at least where it is lumpy) to make filling easier, then renew the caulk in the joints.

As long as the cracks around the window haven't 'opened up', the paint should hide the area pretty well but any actual cracks will need another layer of caulk on top.