How to go about painting skirting boards?

[cakecakecake98]

We’re going to get a decorator in to paint the actual walls, but the skirting boards I’m happy to do myself. It’s obviously going to take a while to do the whole houses skirting boards, so I’m just going to wait until after the decorator has been.

My worry is using tape to protect the walls after they’ve been painted - would I use masking tape, frog tape? Is there any chance this would rip the paint off the walls?

I’m a DIY noob so sorry if this is obvious!

I believe it is said to work from the top down, e.g. ceilings, walls then woodwork.

But I have found that if I do the woodwork before the walls then any emulsion that might run on to the skirting boards wipes off really easily whilst gloss paint on a wall doesn't.

But maybe I'm just a messy painter.

Ordinary masking tape will bleed.

If you use one with paint block, it depends on the type you buy. There are some lower tack "delicate" ones can be used 24 hours after painting. The others are 3+ days.

After that it shouldn't pull the paint off if you use it correctly and the wall was sound/prepared properly.

By "use it correctly", I mean follow the instructions on the packet about how to use, how long to leave on the wall, when to remove etc. Which includes removing it as soon as you've painted. If you leave it on until the paint dries it will pull off the fresh paint.

Here's a tip.

Go around checking about 1 hour after you have painted to see whether there are any drips.

At about 1-2 hours it is usually still wet enough for you to paint them out.

If you wait much longer it will harden on the outside. Then you will have to wait ages - you won't be able to paint out, OTOH you won't be able to sand either because the outer surface will be hard-ish and the inner still goey/wet.

Make sure it’s worth it. We decided to paint our own stair spindles because it knocked a couple of hundred off the decorator’s price for doing the hall and landing. It took us about 50 hours to do the job ourselves (including researching, buying stuff, dealing with drips, sanding between coats etc), so it was absolutely not worth it!

I emulsion ceilings first then I do skirtings , then finally walls. Much easier to wash off emulsion from the skirting boards than the other way round.

I'd do the skirting first. You'll be really upset if you cock up after you've paid £££££ to get the walls done by a professional.

I’d love to do all the skirtings first, but the problem is we’re in the process of moving in just now and I’ve already spent my entire week off packing and cleaning both the new house and the old one. I don’t think I’m going to have the time to paint all the skirtings before the decorator can come (new house is all painted white so would like it to be decorated asap)

The decorator is coming to give us an estimate on Thursday so obviously depends on his schedule, if he can’t come for something like a month due to being booked up I’ll be able to get it done myself, if not I think I’ll go with the suggestion of the delicate frog mask tape, thank you

Don't forget to sand them lightly and fill any holes before you start. Decorators caulk is best for gaps between the walls and the skirting boards.

If you're worried about using masking tape, you could try a "cutting in" brush. The bristles are cut across on a slant and are also tapered at the tips, so you get a fine point and, if you have a steady hand, you can use it to do the top of the skirting boards, as it's more controllable than a normal paint brush. However, only do about a metre at a time with the cutting in brush and then paint the area below so both areas blend. Otherwise, you will get a hard line where the paint from the cutting in brush has dried without blending with the paint on the rest of the skirting board.

With skirting boards, it's best to use gloss or satin paint as it's more hard-wearing to the inevitable scuffs and knocks.

If you don't quite achieve a perfect finish, don't stress - remember that skirting boards are well away from eye-level so nobody will notice minor imperfections here and there!

Honestly I will happily paint any walls easily but I'm DREADING repainting/restaining the wood work to the point of considering ripping it all out and starting fresh but that costs thousands... the peeling/stripping/sanding of wood is a bloody nightmare and can take months and is messy.

I stripped all of mine back about 30 years ago. Didn't realise you could buy new ones which would have been SO much easier! No YouTube back then 🤣

Another thing you can do is just experiment with a tiny bit first rather than trying to do the whole lot to see whether you can get the finish you want.

TBH I think gloss is really easy. It's more painstaking than the walls and it is a pain to clean up but to actually get a good finish isn't that hard. Remember not to apply too much in one coat and make sure it is evenly spread. Much easily to apply a second coat than to take off too much.

I find gloss far easier than painting walls in say matt. Getting an even finish in matt on a wall so it doesn't show features when the light is on it at an angle is really quite hard. You don't have that sort of issue with gloss.