I covered my old skirting boards instead of ripping them out – 2 years later, here’s my honest verdict

Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.

Living in a 1960s house means things are built well. A little too well, sometimes. Even the simple task of removing skirting boards that should take a few minutes, stretches into far longer! Previously, when I (read my husband) had to remove the original skirting boards in other rooms, they were not only hard to remove, but often left large nails sticking out of the walls. These nails proved quite hard to remove and I ended up hammering most of them against the wall instead!

Therefore, when we finally got round to decorating our master bedroom, I knew that removing the skirting boards wasn’t a job we were ready to tackle. The thought of prising them off and dealing with the weird nails sticking out of the walls after, felt like more work than I was ready to take on. Enter: the skirting board cover.

If you have never heard of a skirting board cover, it’s exactly what the name suggests – a rebated skirting board to go over your old ones. It’s perfect for rental homes or the lazy DIYer (me!). Theoretically, it’s as easy as cutting it to the desired length and installing with nails or liquid nails (like No More Nails).

Sockets

In reality, it’s not as simple as that! Sockets are one of the trickier parts, as the cover often needs to be cut around them to sit flush. The first mistake I made was marking the space that needed cutting and going on to use a multitool – in hindsight, I think it can be done easier with a handsaw too. Whilst it wasn’t too hard to cut around the sockets, whether it was functional to use was a separate issue.

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Not all the plugs fit into these sockets now as the skirting board’s thickness prevents some plugs from sitting flush. Thankfully, it didn’t stay a big issue once I figured out which plugs fit or not – extension lead plugs are generally quite small and will fit, so that now functions as my new socket.

However, if I were to do it again, I would mitre it and wrap the skirting around the sockets instead of simply cutting a hole to fit the sockets. This would mean the skirting board actually sits below the sockets, rather than around it.

Internal corners

If you’ve heard that the internal corners of skirting boards need to be scribed, that’s the correct way tradesmen and carpenters would follow. However, I’m neither, doing DIY with little experience, so I took the easy way out and mitred instead of scribing. I tried scribing but after failing twice, I lacked the patience to try again!

Scribing will give a more professional look to the skirting boards – a skill that’s on my list of things to master one day. But to my guests, they won’t be able to tell, as most people don’t know the difference!

Door finish

One question I get asked all the time about these skirting board covers is how they butt up against the architrave. Mine don’t look quite flush, but I don’t see a problem with it! Previously, when I had a difference in thickness of architrave and skirting, I used a plinth as a transitional piece – however, that requires removing the architrave too! To get a carpenter’s finish, mitre the edge where it overhangs – a little task that I’ll get around to another day.

Whilst I love how the taller skirting board looks, I’ve learnt that a little more attention to detail when installing it goes a long way into the functionality of everyday life. Skirting board covers are a creative little hack to give your skirting board an upgrade without the mess of ripping everything out. It’s not just renter friendly but also a low effort way to transform a room – two years later and I’d still say they’re worth installing!