Stripped paint from skirting boards.what next??

[reecesanford]

Ive decided to redecorate my partners house as shes bodged most of the decorating over 10 years so im stripping everything down and starting again.

So ive stripped all the paint from the door frames and skirting boards but theres gaps between them and the walls, some as big as 10-15mm.

Im going to use a small detail/palm sander to sand the skirting boards eventually but im not sure whether its better to do that first or fill in the holes then sand.

wasn't sure whether if i filled the holes first that the vibrations from the sander would crack the filler and i would be back to square one again.

thanks for the advice

 

[sparkwright]

What paint finish are you going for?
e.g.
Stain/varnish.
White gloss/satin.

 

[reecesanford]

satin wood

i was looking into what to fill the holes in with and was looking at decorators caulk so i guess the best thing to do would be to sand everything down first

 

[dcdec]

The gap between wall and frame is a bit big for caulk, i use a ready mix filler and push it into the gap with my finger then run my finger from top to bottom to take off the excess. Order to do bare timber is knot, prime, fill, abrade and then u/c and gloss (if thats the finish you want). I always prime first as it shows up the bumps, knocks and holes etc and a good quality primer will also fill small minor surface imperfections.

 

[sparkwright]

To clarify, to 'knot' means applying knotting solution on the knots in the wood. Very important.

Why have you got such big gaps? Can the wood be fitted against the wall a bit better before you start filling?

 

[reecesanford]

its an old council house that i think stevie wonder build haha

im not sure if i took the skirting board off completely that it would ever go back again.Just want to do a decent job to make it look nice before we sell it.

my only concern is if i use filler it will crack again like it seems to have now and thats why theres big gaps.