Eric The Viking
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Rule #0: "half-a-room" means 2x the problems, unless it's all recent skirting and really well fitted. Bluntly, unless you're putting the old stuff back, you're better off doing the whole lot, as it's far easier to get a neat result.
What follows applies to softwood - I've never tried to fit hardwood skirtings (and wouldn't!).
I beg to differ with Dibs very slightly - IMHO it does matter which bit you scribe. I always try to do it so that the shorter piece is scribed onto the longer one, and/or so that the bits at the sides of any alcove are scribed and the back bit is plain. Basis: the longer one will move more, but not open the gap appreciably if jointed this way, and in alcoves you don't see the gap as much. When a room corner is also an alcove, the longer piece wins (and isn't scribed). See where the light is coming from and, if you can, arrange it so it falls across the scribed joint, not into the gap.
Regarding fixing to the wall, yes, you do need to do a bit of prep: old plaster is often belled-out above the skirting, from decades of painting, etc. The best thing is to knock it off up to where it's reasonably true (just the finish coat if you can), with a sharp bolster (electricians' ones work well if you sharpen them), and make good to at least 1/2" below the finish line of the skirting. To avoid detaching too much, cut upwards if you can. Clean the brickwork about 3 or 4" up from the floor level, and fix wooden blocks (timber treated) out to level with the wall, and screw into these.
I wouldn't plaster down for two reasons. One is damp - there should be air circulating around the edges of the floor. The other is fitting - walls are hardly if ever square. With a tall skirting, the top edge of the moulding will follow the line if pushed hard against it, but it's next-to impossible with 11" to force the whole height of it against a wavy, curving wall. You end up doing a lot of filling and with a quite irregular edge at the top - it doesn't look good. For those reasons I think blocks are better than battens etc.
To hold the bottom edge out, you can put oval brads vertically into the floorboards. Blocks are tempting, and if the ends of the boards are too close or rotten, you may have no choice, but they're not ideal. They do, however, let you fine tune the fit with a shoulder plane (ooh, heresy!!!).
The skirting really shouldn't sit on the floorboards, because of the need for ventilation. I use plastic packers to stand it off while I'm fitting (usually about 4mm is enough), and remove them afterwards. Having a small gap also makes painting easier.
If you have to contend with planted mouldings on top, it's harder, but the same general approach applies.
Also, if you're doing a room where the floor is significantly not level, be sure to find the lowest corner/point and start there (you have to scribe to the floor!), otherwise you'll run out of skirting height, and the corners won't be true (and really hard to fit!). DAMHIK!
Finally, when painting, prime the backs of the skirtings before you fit them. It reduces movement and splitting, and discourages any existing woodworm/funguses.
We've got 11" boards presently (had 13" in one room in the last place!). The mitres were way too much fun by hand :-(
What follows applies to softwood - I've never tried to fit hardwood skirtings (and wouldn't!).
I beg to differ with Dibs very slightly - IMHO it does matter which bit you scribe. I always try to do it so that the shorter piece is scribed onto the longer one, and/or so that the bits at the sides of any alcove are scribed and the back bit is plain. Basis: the longer one will move more, but not open the gap appreciably if jointed this way, and in alcoves you don't see the gap as much. When a room corner is also an alcove, the longer piece wins (and isn't scribed). See where the light is coming from and, if you can, arrange it so it falls across the scribed joint, not into the gap.
Regarding fixing to the wall, yes, you do need to do a bit of prep: old plaster is often belled-out above the skirting, from decades of painting, etc. The best thing is to knock it off up to where it's reasonably true (just the finish coat if you can), with a sharp bolster (electricians' ones work well if you sharpen them), and make good to at least 1/2" below the finish line of the skirting. To avoid detaching too much, cut upwards if you can. Clean the brickwork about 3 or 4" up from the floor level, and fix wooden blocks (timber treated) out to level with the wall, and screw into these.
I wouldn't plaster down for two reasons. One is damp - there should be air circulating around the edges of the floor. The other is fitting - walls are hardly if ever square. With a tall skirting, the top edge of the moulding will follow the line if pushed hard against it, but it's next-to impossible with 11" to force the whole height of it against a wavy, curving wall. You end up doing a lot of filling and with a quite irregular edge at the top - it doesn't look good. For those reasons I think blocks are better than battens etc.
To hold the bottom edge out, you can put oval brads vertically into the floorboards. Blocks are tempting, and if the ends of the boards are too close or rotten, you may have no choice, but they're not ideal. They do, however, let you fine tune the fit with a shoulder plane (ooh, heresy!!!).
The skirting really shouldn't sit on the floorboards, because of the need for ventilation. I use plastic packers to stand it off while I'm fitting (usually about 4mm is enough), and remove them afterwards. Having a small gap also makes painting easier.
If you have to contend with planted mouldings on top, it's harder, but the same general approach applies.
Also, if you're doing a room where the floor is significantly not level, be sure to find the lowest corner/point and start there (you have to scribe to the floor!), otherwise you'll run out of skirting height, and the corners won't be true (and really hard to fit!). DAMHIK!
Finally, when painting, prime the backs of the skirtings before you fit them. It reduces movement and splitting, and discourages any existing woodworm/funguses.
We've got 11" boards presently (had 13" in one room in the last place!). The mitres were way too much fun by hand :-(
