Skirting board fixing

[Apasc]

Have removed skirting boards throughout house for various works and now getting ready to tidy and paint and then refit to walls - BUT, how best to do so!
Various grounds missing, so planning to fill with some expanding foam before refitting.
Lots of different advice to use nails, screws or adhesive.
I was thinking nails in case I needed remove again in future - thinking I will not find screws in future if screws countersunk, filled and painted over, and screws need unscrewed, and if can't find them then it will then be more difficult to to pull the skirting from wall than if nails used.
Any advice or experience greatly welcomed. Thanks

 

[Flyfisher]

I've used all three methods, depending on the circumstances. Nails would be my first choice if possible but I've fitted skirting to walls where the hammering caused more harm than good, eg lath-and-plaster walls. Perhaps a nail gun would be ok in such circumstances, but I don't have one so have never tried. In such circumstances, I've resorted to screws. I've also used glue to fit some oak skirting that I didn't want to nail or screw because either would leave visible marks even after using a plug cutter to fill the holes. I can't remember the exact brand but I did have problems with smaller sections around doorways becoming loose after some years and had to re-stick them.

I guess that may not be the most helpful advice, but it's certainly my experience.

 

[eezageeza]

If the walls ares straight and true, and the skirting is the same, I'd use adhesive. Its quick, easy, and the skirting could be ripped off again if necessary (but personally, I've never considered removing skirting for redecorating).

If the walls are a bit wonky (=normal) or the skirting has any twist or bend to it, use screws - they'll be strong enough to pull the timber into the walls.

 

[Stevers]

In my basement I didn't fill the screw heads for my skirting, although even filled they have a way of becoming visible again. I've no doubt that some of the skirting will need to come off again at some point, so I just left the screwheads 'honest' - countersunk and painted.

 

[fernicarry]

Had to remove some skirting boards and picture rails that had been attached with grab adhesive. Absolute nightmare, the stuff had such a good grip but at the same time was still rubbery and stretchy so almost impossible to pry off. Future you will thank you for not using adhesive...

I usually use thin screws that I hope will pull out relatively easily if I ever need to remove again.

 

[Cubist]

Screws - every time. I've bent more nails and dinged more skirting with a mis aimed hammer the I care to think about.... and not to mention the blackened thumb-nails.

 

[paulc]

Screws - every time. I've bent more nails and dinged more skirting with a mis aimed hammer the I care to think about.... and not to mention the blackened thumb-nails.

The skirting (and picture rail) here was all fixed to the walls with cut nails. Sometimes one, but in places, two or even three in the same hole. Much of the time, the nails had curled over when they hit hard brick, and just occasionally would go in to a mortar joint. Getting the off the wall would result in great chunks of plaster coming off at the same time or the nails would pull through the wood. Much of the time, the skirting would just splinter and break apart meaning it could never be reused.
New boards have been reattached with screws (and plastic wall plugs for the brick walls). Should I ever need to remove them, the screws can be located with a simple hand held metal detector, and filler dug out to get to the heads.

 

[Cubist]

Should I ever need to remove them, the screws can be located with a simple hand held metal detector,

Bit more old school here. I keep a couple of quite powerful magnets - recovered from a dead Hard Disk Drive - for that and other little jobs.... like recovering the large adjustable spanner I managed to drop behind a built in tower fridge/freezer.

 

[Apasc]

Should I ever need to remove them, the screws can be located with a simple hand held metal detector, and filler dug out to get to the heads.

That sounds good, I had just thought it would be difficult to get the gloss paint and filler out of screw head to make it useable to loosen screw.

 

[Cubist]

That sounds good, I had just thought it would be difficult to get the gloss paint and filler out of screw head to make it useable to loosen screw.

Philips and Pozi and other cross heads can be a real PITA where a good old slot head can be easy to clean out with a the edge of screwdriver - the former are why my toolkit includes a couple of dental picks.

 

[fernicarry]

Multitool with a narrow blade is good for cleaning out paint clogged heads. And if that fails you can grind a new slot on it.

 

[Stevers]

Have just extracted some very rusty and stuck BZP Pozidrives that were fastening a weather bar on a door from inside. The heads were completely clogged with polyester resin filler. I made sure I had good quality bits of the correct type, then scratched out what I could from each head before hammering the bit in and using a brace and bib to try to undo them. I'd used a couple of different makes of screw and crucially some were PZ3 and some PZ2. If they slipped, I double checked the size, scratched out a bit more filler, banged the cross closed with a punch and hammered the bit back in. Brutal, but all eventually turned, though one broke. If stainless screws had been used instead, they'd have been a piece of cake to remove using the scratch out and hammer method.