How to paint skirting boards properly
Skirting boards are the first thing to look tired in a freshly painted room. They take knocks from hoovers, shoes and furniture, they collect dust along the top edge, and white gloss yellows over time — so a room can have perfect walls and still look unfinished. The good news is that painting skirting boards is one of the more approachable DIY jobs, as long as you don’t rush the preparation.
Here’s how to do it properly.
What you’ll need
- A good angled brush, 50mm or 63mm — a cheap brush sheds bristles into the finish
- Sanding sponge or 120–180 grit paper
- Filler for nail holes and gaps, and a filling knife
- Decorator’s caulk for the gap between skirting and wall
- Low-tack masking tape
- Sugar soap or a degreaser, and clean rags
- Primer or undercoat suitable for wood or MDF
- Satinwood, eggshell or gloss in your chosen finish
Step 1 — Clean before you sand
Skirting boards carry more grease and dust than people expect, particularly in a kitchen or hallway. Wash them down with sugar soap and let them dry completely. Sanding dirty skirting just grinds the dirt into the surface and gives the new paint something poor to hold onto.
Step 2 — Fill, caulk and sand
Fill nail holes, dents and any chips with a wood filler and let it dry fully before sanding it flat. Where the skirting meets the wall there is usually a hairline gap — run a bead of decorator’s caulk along it and smooth it with a wet finger. That single step is what separates a professional-looking finish from an obviously DIY one, because the shadow line in that gap is very visible once the paint is on.
Then sand the whole length. You’re not stripping it back to bare wood — you’re taking the sheen off so the new coat can grip. Wipe down with a damp cloth and let it dry.
Step 3 — Mask, but not too tightly
Run masking tape along the floor, tucking it slightly under the bottom edge of the skirting. If you have carpet, press the tape down over the pile and use a filling knife to push the edge under the skirting as you go. Use low-tack tape and take it off while the paint is still slightly soft — leaving it until fully dry is how you end up peeling your new paint off with it.
Step 4 — Prime, if you need to
Prime bare wood, new MDF, filled areas and any spot where you’ve sanded back to the timber. If you’re painting over sound existing paint in a similar colour, a light sand and a good undercoat is usually enough. If you’re covering dark wood or old varnish, or going from a dark colour to white, use a stain-blocking primer — otherwise tannins and old stains will bleed through and yellow the finish weeks later.
Step 5 — Two thin coats, not one thick one
Load the brush lightly and work in sections of about a metre, brushing along the length of the board rather than across it. Lay the paint on, then finish each section with a light stroke in one direction to level the brush marks out. Let the first coat dry fully — check the tin, but usually 4 to 6 hours for water-based satinwood, longer for oil-based gloss — then sand very lightly and apply the second.
Two thin coats will always look better and last longer than one thick one, which runs, sags on the profile and stays soft for weeks.
Which finish should you use?
Satinwood is the most popular choice in Irish homes — a soft sheen that hides imperfections better than gloss. Eggshell is flatter again and very forgiving on older, uneven skirting. Gloss is the most durable and the easiest to wipe clean, but it shows every ripple in the surface underneath, so it needs the best preparation. Water-based paints have largely replaced oil-based for interior woodwork because they don’t yellow, though oil-based still gives a slightly harder finish.
Do you paint the walls or the skirting first?
Do the ceiling first, then the walls, then the woodwork last. Cutting in a wall neatly against already-finished skirting is easier than the reverse, and any wall paint that gets on the skirting will be covered by the woodwork coat anyway.
Architraves and door frames
The same method applies to architraves and door frames, and it’s worth doing them at the same time as the skirting so everything matches. If you paint skirting one weekend and architraves six months later, the two will not be the same white — paint changes slightly in the tin and considerably on the wall.
When it’s worth calling a painter
Skirting is fiddly, slow work. It’s low down, so you’re on your knees, and a room with a lot of doors, architraves and returns can take far longer than the walls did. If you have a whole house of woodwork to do, or the existing paint is heavily built up, chipped or yellowed, it’s often worth getting it done professionally.
We also spray woodwork, which gives a flat, brush-mark-free finish that’s very hard to match by hand — particularly on internal doors. If you’re repainting a full room, our interior painting service covers walls, ceilings and woodwork together, and for hallways there’s hall, stairs and landing painting.
Contact OS Decor for a free, no-obligation quote.
