Skirting Boards – can't replace, so how to treat?

[sortaottery]

Hi all,

I've bought a house that's full of skirting boards just like the one in the image. They're in good condition (well, they're not being eaten by invertebrates and they're not on fire).

I'm new to DIY. I'd like to smarten them up, but I'm not sure what the best approach would be. I'd like to get them looking as close to natural wood as possible. (So definitely no paint). What should I do, and what equipment do I need? An orbital sander? Linseed oil? Varnish?

Please help stop me buying up the entirety of B&Q's woodwork and wood treatment section.

You need to start by buying decorators culk to fill the gap between skirting and wall. Fill in and then smooth it along with your finger. You could lightly sand then either stain or wax.

Are they real wood to start with or fake? I can’t quite tell from the photo but don’t use a sander on fake wood. If they are real wood you could sand but use a mouse sander not an orbital one (which are for large flat areas)

however I would suggest to first try removing any excess caulk (lumpy bits round the top and bottom) with a craft knife (bic ones with yellow plastic handle) and the paint spatter with very hot water on a washing up scrubber.

if fake wood don’t do any of that as it may make things worse

if you are replacing the carpet with laminate or wooden floors you might want to replace the skirting anyway

Also are you keeping the wallpaper and carpet?

Assuming that's a water based emulsion it should come off with just a spondex kitchen scrubber and water as hot as you can stand. I like to use an old spondex that's less abrasive than a new one.
The finish looks waxed which will be easy to reapply

I'm not 100% sure whether the wood is real or fake. The house is 1950s, so I think there's a fair chance the skirting boards are real wood. I'll take a closer look when I go back over there this morning.

I'll be cleaning then painting over the wallpaper, and the carpet is going to be replaced. (I'd like to get rid of the wallpaper altogether, but I'm worried about the state of the plaster underneath: the budget won't cover reskimming).

Thank you kindly, @caringcarer, @thecatsgranny and @DrySherry

They are real wood but have been painted to look like wood grain. If you want to go back to the wood you will need to strip the paint off but that will be hard work and it would be a lot easier to just key the current paint with a light sand and then paint over it. If you go back to wood and then stain or varnish them, you won't be able to paint over them without first removing the varnish and that is really difficult.

If you want to remove the paint then use klingstrip paint stripper..

It’s very hard to see from the photo what type of wood they are. I would sand and oil them and finish with danish oil or Osmo polyx oil. I agree with pp though if they’ve already got some stuff on them to look like wood you’ll need to strip that off. I’ve done this and it’s horrible, you can buy varnish stripper stuff and it’s very messy. In that case you would be better off with a light sand and paint.

Had a closer look -- there are three layers of paint over the wood. (Including one that was scarlet. I guess that must have been from the seventie?) Underneath that, I think I glimpsed some pine.

Have been going backwards and forwards over it. At 4pm I was absolutely definitely going to drop by B&Q tomorrow morning to pick up some more pretend wood effect paint. By 6pm I was absolutely definitely going to get more paint stripper and just melt the layers off.

Guess I'll see how masochistic I'm feeling tomorrow.

I think you have to order klingstrip online. The paint stripper you can get elsewhere will be crap and won't work very well.

Important to make sure you wash it off really well afterwards or it can warp the wood and bring the grain out so it isn't flat anymore.