Thread: Mitre joints in Skirting boards

I reckon you have two problem here:

1. The corners you are fitting them to will hardly ever be perfectly 90 degrees, therefore even perfectly cut mitres will not be dead on.

2. The cheap mitre saw may not be cutting perfect 45's, adding to the problem.

I did quarter-round through-out my house last year, which went pretty well.

There is not much you can do about the first, although there is a technique for cutting mitres that are way off 90 degrees. It involves cutting the wood at 45 degrees and then using a coping saw to cut the waste off. I can't describe it very well, as I haven't done it, so perhaps someone else could help you there....

With the second, you should be able to adjust the saw to get pretty close to a perfect cut. get some scrap and have a play...

I used a $20 mitre saw from bunnies for the first house I had, which I still have and it works a treat....

Good luck...

P.S are you putting the skirting onto brick or plaster?

You will have to go back into the archives but I think this subject has been thoroughly covered by our esteemed experts a couple of times before.

For internal corners, scribe, don't mitre.

For external corners, mitre and user gap filler if painting. If staining, mitre well.

I think the term you need to look up is "coping". Go here.

Is coping an American term:confused: , always thought it was scribed out here, but the link describes the scribe for those touchy internal corners.

John

No More Gaps will become your best friend for the duration.........Trust me on this.

Yeah,
As was said before, you'll need a coping saw for scribing the internal corners. Its difficult to explain, but I'll try.

The way I was taught in college was to first find the longest stretch of wall, and fix a length of skirting down (without any angles), just straight in square. If the floor is uneven, You'll need to make a scribing block (a small peice of wood) and a pencil. The scribing block needs to be the same thickness as the highest point of the gap. Run the block along the floor with the pencil tip resting on top of it and the skirting. cut it out with the coping saw. It then fits nicely along the floor with no gaps.

The next length of skirting will need to be scribed into the first piece. Use any angle finder, get the angle then transfer it to the chop saw, miter saw. Back home in England (yes Im a bloody pom) I dont think Ive ever been on a job with perfect 90 degree angled walls. Next cut the transfered angle. NOTE* If the skirting is ovolo,ogee,torus,chamfered you will need to cut the top straight (90 degrees), then the rest at the angle. After the angle is cut, take the coping saw and scribe the back out of the pattern, keeping as close to the edge as possible. Fit it in, see if it fits. If you are using a soft wood, and the fit isnt perfect you can as we say "bruise" it in (force it to fit). If the room is square the opposite end of that piece will be square again. the next piece scribed. And so on...
If the opposite end is external: mark the corner line with a pencil on the skirting. Take it off, find the angle, transfer it. Cut the the skirting on the pencil mark. Fix it on the wall.
If the next cut is external, internal measure the length, cut the external angle and fix it in. Next piece is a scribe. And so on...

Sorry its long winded and abit confusing. Its easier to explain in person than in writing.
Cheers. Gary.

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