Repairing wall after removing skirting

[guitarbloke]

I've been left with missing plaster at the bottom of my walls after removing my old skirting boards, and as an utter DIY novice I'm a bit unsure how to tackle this.

The gap is 20-30mm deep in most places, although in a couple of spots it's about 40mm deep.

Now that the old skirting is gone, I can see that the walls themselves appear to be built upon wood. It's an upper floor room, 2 of the walls are internal and built on wood (and the external walls obviously aren't!).

I'm guessing I need to fill the gap with plaster, but I've been told plaster won't adhere to wood. I suppose I need to put something there which the plaster can stick to?

The question is what would be best? Plasterboard, or something else?

I've never plastered anything before in my life so I'm hoping it's fairly easy, I just need to end up with enough material at the bottom of the walls for the new skirting to attach to.

Thanks in advance!

 

[JohnD]

Do you mean the walls are made of wood? Is it thin strips nailed to a frame or backing?

Post some pics please.

His old is the house?

How thick is the plaster? Is it creamy white?

The new skirting does not need to (should not) attach to plaster. You can screw wooden battens to the wall, about the thickness of the plaster, one level with the top of the new skirting, and one about an inch from the floor.

You can repair the plaster to the top of the upper batten, using it as a guide, and screw the new skirting to the battens using small countersunk screws and pilot holes.

 

[guitarbloke]

Thanks John,

The walls are brick and plaster, but after removing the skirting it looks like the internal walls have been built using wood as a base (I wasn't aware that was common practice, but then this whole DIY game is completely new to me!). The wood is present at the bottom of both the internal walls.

I've attached a photo so you can see what I mean.

The new skirting is going to be quite tall, so it will easily cover the gap, but I just need something there, filling that gap to give it some purchase.

The wooden battens is a good idea, I could screw the lower one directly to the floorboards as I have wood flooring being installed on a couple of weeks. I guess an upper batten wouldn't be needed as the skirting will be tall enough to attach to the wall itself the gap?

 

[foxhole]

If you use foam adhesive to fix skirtings it will fill gaps and secure skirting with no further work required.The foam will fix and fill in one action, it does not expand much like standard foam,no prep required.

 

[johnny2007]

Hoover the area thoroughly and dampen it with a sponge or better, with an old sprayer (window cleaning product container) filled with water.
Very sparingly, spray some expanding foam where there are gaps.
That foam expands a lot, so be sure to spray a little that will make you think it's not enough, but it will be, I promise.
Let it dry, better to leave it for half a day.
Then take a flexible carving knife and whilst holding the blade against the wall, cut the now dry foam flush.
Now you're ready to refit your skirting.
To protect your floor, before doing all of the above, use masking tape all along the area that needs foam.
Better to go wide, so 3 strips of 50mm masking tape to cover 150mm of your floor.
If you have carpet, lift it and use masking tape to protect the grippers.

 

[JohnD]

Fix skirting to the wall, not to the floor.

 

[guitarbloke]

Thanks so much for the advice guys, I really appreciate it!

With my limited skill set, I think the expanding foam idea will be the simplest solution, so I'll give that a go!

 

[guitarbloke]

Hoover the area thoroughly and dampen it with a sponge or better, with an old sprayer (window cleaning product container) filled with water.
Very sparingly, spray some expanding foam where there are gaps.
That foam expands a lot, so be sure to spray a little that will make you think it's not enough, but it will be, I promise.
Let it dry, better to leave it for half a day.
Then take a flexible carving knife and whilst holding the blade against the wall, cut the now dry foam flush.
Now you're ready to refit your skirting.
To protect your floor, before doing all of the above, use masking tape all along the area that needs foam.
Better to go wide, so 3 strips of 50mm masking tape to cover 150mm of your floor.
If you have carpet, lift it and use masking tape to protect the grippers.

If I do this, I'm assuming I'll have to fit the nee skirting with an adhesive like No More Nails as I can't imagine being able to drive screws/nails into the hardened foam?

The foam looks quite porous - can I use adhesives on it once it sets?

 

[johnny2007]

Yes, you can use adhesive on it, it dries quite hard.
My favourite is soudal fixall because it's flexible and grips very well.
Didn't you say there was wood behind the plaster?
If so, if needed you could drive screws into that, of course after drilling and countersinking the skirting.