- G’day, Uncle Knackers from Knuckleheads here. Well we're at the stage where we're
installing our skirting boards or our base boards. So I thought now would be a great
time to do a quick tutorial on how to install the base board or the skirting board. A nice
straight run with one corner. Very easy to do, let's do it. Now the first thing you need
to do, is to find out where our studs are along this particular wall. And the reason
for that is that you want to nail your skirting board or your base board into the studs. It
makes this much more secure. I've been fortunate enough in that when I built this wall I marked
on the slab where my studs were. But if you haven't got that luxury, tap on the wall with
your hand until you hear the sound change. Like that, take a nail, and tap it into the
wall just to check that there is a stud there. And there is. And make sure when you insert
that nail that it's below the height of your skirting board. That way the hole can't be
seen once the skirting board's on. So we found all our studs, and marked on your wall where
they are. The next thing you need to is measure from the end of the wall up to the edge of
that door alcove. Okay, we're gonna cut this piece at four meters 161. Let's do it. That's
beautiful, and before we nail this in place, I just want to run a bead of liquid nails
down the top edge and in the center of this board. Because between the studs the base
board or skirting board can still come off or flap a little bit. So by putting the liquid
nails on there, when that dries this will fit up hard against that wall, and it won't
move. And add a few dobs in the middle. Like that. That's it. Now before we nail this base
board or skirting board in place, move that to one side. On the corner of our dry wall
where it's past the board, there's a bit of a recess. And if you put your board tight
up against that wall, and nail it in, the boards gonna get kicked in because it follows
that recess. So to tip that board out a little bit, I just nail a little clout down the bottom,
just on top of your floor. Like that. And leave that slightly proud. So if you run a
level or a straight edge down your space. It will finish up on the face of that clout.
That way when the board gets pushed against the wall it's going to sit straight. Now,
we can put the board on. Now, with your nail gun find those studs and put a nail in the
top of the skirting board or the base board, and the base. And also one in the middle of
those studs, but down on the bottom here. Just work your way on. Like I said, that is
just too easy. Now let's get that internal corner all sorted out. Now you might be wondering
why I just cut the square end into that corner. Most people, or a lot of people, say just
cut two 45's like that, and you got yourself a nice corner. But one wall that doesn't work
is that because these corners, once that mud goes down, there never exactly 90 degrees.
So you put these in like that, one either kicks in or kicks out and you finish up putting
a little caulk in that crack. And after a while that caulk does crack, and looks terrible.
The proper way to do an internal corner, is to do a process called coping. Now don't panic,
a lot of people panic about it but it's really simple. I'm gonna show you how to do it. Now
a cope is a corner like that. And what happens is this piece fits over like that, and you
finish up with a corner that doesn't move and it fits perfectly. So let's go ahead and
I'll show you how to do a coped corner. The first thing you need to do is cut an open
45 degree cut on the face of your skirting board, or your base board. So get your drop
saw and spin it around to 45 and lock it off. With that in place, make your cut. And there
you have an open 45 degree angle. It's not closed, it's open. Now all you need to do
is flip your board over, like that. And then reposition your saw back to straight, or back
to zero degrees. Like that. Now with this board turned over, all you have to do is run
a cut with your saw down that straight line until you get to your first angle, which is
right there. You can see now that we've run that saw along that line and we finished it
at the angle of the baseboard or skirting board. Now all you need to do is to get yourself
one of these. It's called a a coping saw. It's got a very fine blade. Can you see it?
Pretty fine, and it's great for cutting around corners. So you'll need one of these to do
a coped corner. You can start the cut anywhere you like. But personally I like to start from
the top and then work my way down that line and come out at the end. We also wanna go
a slight under cut with our coping saw. We don't want this to be a perfectly square edge,
we want it to be kicked back a bit so this line here becomes a leading edge. So we start
at the front here, at the top. With a little cut. And just follow the line back to here.
And there we have it. There's our cut and you can see how I've done a bit of a back
cut off that line, and that's so this becomes a leading edge, and it'll be a nice sharp
finish. Let's go and fit it. With that skirting board or base board now glued up, also run
a bead of PVA down that inside corner. Just like that. With this skirting board now ready
to be installed, I'll show you how good the coped corner is gonna look. Now check this
out. That fits over the other board absolutely beautifully. Now that's how an internal corner
should be done. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Beautiful. So there you have
it, the basic installation of a straight run of skirting board or base board with an internal
corner. Great Tip Knackers. Pretty simple wasn't it? And as per usual, a big thumbs
up we'd greatly appreciate it And if you haven't already please hit that subscribe button for
more handy tips. Alrighty, I better get starting here with putting more skirting boards down.
I might even have a cup of tea. So till next time, I'm out of here. Cheers.