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I commented on the Cowboy Builder video about tradesmen not being paid what they are worth. Here’s an example. That skirting board will still look great in 30, 40, 50 maybe even 100 years time because of the skill in its fixing. The value of the work done by James per hour is worth no less than that done by solicitors, accountants or Mercedes technicians. It would therefore be reasonable for him to be rewarded at the same rate.

When you said about if the grain goes in the wrong direction on the plug, and it goes below the face, a little tip, instead of having to dig the plug to replace it, like you said, and risk damaging the sides of the hole, just screw a longer screw into the plug that need to be removed, and the tip of the screw, hits the head of screw inside the hole, and draws the plug straight out, without causing any damage. Give it a go, works every time providing the glue is still wet. 👍

This really is an excellent masterclass on how to fit skirting. I've referred to this over and over as I fit my own. Thanks guys.

Excellent video and craftsmanship! Great stuff! As a DIYer with minimal experience I fitted my own skirtings about 12 years ago when I renovated my house having never done anything like that before. I did it all with a hacksaw and by eye, (luckily I'm a perfectionist and pretty good with angles being I like playing pool now and then lol) anyway for some unknown reason EVERY WALL was out internal and external corners even the walls themselves! So I couldn't use a mitre saw on any of it! If LITERALLY had to eyeball it and hope for the best and luckily taking my time it came out perfect bit jees was it STRESSFUL! Any very slight gaps I burnished with a screw driver and filled any holes on the horizontal on the wall with decorators filler and I didn't use ANY fixings but I used LOADS of No Nails and a combination of ladders against the opposite wall and weights to hold the skirtings against the VERY wavey walls while it dried! Luckily they're ALL still in place even after having carpet fitted twice so been tested with Knee kickers and held up well! I didn't have an electric mitre saw just an old rusty BLUNT manual one wouldn't have been much help anyway! SO I improvised EVERYTHING with a mini hacksaw and sanded after if not smooth or to get contours.. YOUVE restored my faith in people who are like me measure twice cut once and perfectionists do a job properly/take pride in their work!! Just subscribed and will be checking out your other videos to get more tips tricks and knowledge. Top man! Excellent job mate! 👍😎

Love watching James work, the skill, attention to detail and sheer precision is so satisfying to watch.

The old adage "do you want it to be level or ,do you want it to look level" still stands

Really great to see a vid on fitting pine when everything is mostly MDF didn’t realise you need so many fixings. All the skill builder carpentry videos have been invaluable to me doing my home renovation , keep up the amazing work 👍🏻👌🏻🙌🏼

A true craftsmen doing a job he enjoys. Well done 👍👍👍👍

Great video. Chippie myself and always looking for ways to improve my workflow. I was always taught when doing skirting board never to box yourself in. Always put your first length between two walls first and work away from it but I prefer your way of working right to left. Also with the skirting being slightly tilted I used to get the angle with a bevel and transfer it to the chop saw but I’m going to start doing it your way scribing a line to get the angle on the saw. So much easier. Great video! More carpentry videos by James please 👍🏻

Great job 👏. I’m painter & decorator by trade and I’m so pleased to see that Chippy is putting the masking tape under the skirtings. I’m asking this for years. Thanks for video 👍🏻

So impressive. I never realised what goes into it. Much respect!

Thanks a lot gents. Some good tips there! Did a job a few days ago a plaster was absolutely terrible. Spent a good amount of time adding spacers at the bottom of the wall. The expanding foam is a brilliant idea. Also the what he mention about the external mitres was brill! Would love to see another video where he does a full room.

Brilliant work ,advice and tips . Top job James 👍

Just when you think you have all you need to stick skirting on as a regular DIYer, then you watch the above video. Some great tips in there!!! Thanks!

Putting the tape on the floor first was a brilliant tip! I always like to caulk the skirting to a finished floor and having the tape on first would make it loads easier. I can’t believe I’ve never though of marking the scribe angle on the length first either. I always cut the scribe square and then rescribe it to the angle. A couple of tips for you... that plug cutter looks like mine and if you’re cutting out of material as thick as that skirting you can just cut right through and and then plugs will just pop out of the cutter, saves you having to dig them out of the wood. And secondly, use a multi tool to cut them off and sand them, a million times quicker and easier than a chisel. Might even be able to set a router flush with the surface on some plugs.

True craftsman...the attention to detail is great!

I’ve saved so much money watching your videos. Used the step over method for rafter length to replace a conservatory roof now the wife wants me to do the main roof. Thank you. Excellent tutorials and priceless info.

What a true craftsman. Beautiful work.

Always a pleasure to see a true professional at work. Thank you for the tips.

What a quality job. Excellent!

Great little video and really useful. Love watching James work - such a pro! 👍🏻😎

Great video as usual, refreshing to see work done correctly. Keep up the great work 👍

Pretty much how I like to do it. Nicely demonstrated. Low key. Stress free.

That tip to use expanding foam is great...I'll have some skirting to do very soon and am going to borrow that idea

top job loved the plugging of the wood at the end , thumbs up

Excellent presentation of how it should be done! Some brilliant tips.

Great vid, I've used sanding disks on my grinder to achieve similar back cut and cope.

Really incredible. It's an art form these trades... wonderful. Thank you

Brilliant, a professional tradesman with actual pride in his work, great job and thanks for the tips 😀

Perfect job mate. Looks great!

Enjoyable video, thanks

Takes me back! Great vid fellas, never hurts to revisit old skills

Great job and plenty of useful tips. Thanks!

Thanks, lots of really practical advice.

What good workmanship well done👍👍👍

Fantastic job James

Some great tips there, loved the dowels, they were spot on chaps. Thanks for the videos, still learning bundles! 👍

Amazing level of skill, knowledge, detail and pride :)

Always a pleasure to watch

That's some fine workmanship, I'm a fan of expanding foam myself but tend to use the gyproc adhesive rather than actual expanding foam. I really liked the masking tape trick. Proper job, well done

Good saying If it looks right it is right, spot on & the way I do mine can't beat the drill countersink plug bits love em, saves so much time and a perfect job I cut plugs off with Japanese saw then just block plane off or sand up in secand works a treat

Nice bit of attention to detail & craftsmanship.

Some good tradesmen on this channel.

That’s a really good tip using the wooden plugs to fill the fixing holes on the skirting, a lot more easier than doing a fill with some wood filler and not being able to get it completely flush in one go, saves a load of time in regards to filling!

Great Video Roger and Top marks James I do mine the same way, it takes a bit more time but the job is always spot on. I like the masking tape trick I'll give it a go on the next job 👍🏻

Love how the screw holes are covered up👍🏽 Good tip

Nice to see properly coped internals. 😉👍

How the hell can this video have 12 dislikes !!!! I would like to see anyone do better. Keep up the great work, James you are a credit to your profession.

Yay! I’m a pro already it seems! Self taught on skirtings and oddly I use the exact same method as James

Another great video boys, well done 👏👍

Really good providing some really good insight for a job that's most, including me, hate.

Nice to know that you adjust the the wall to fit external mitres to.

A great video THANKS

I really appreciate this. God bless you mate

Appreciate the tips. Nice job.

Great workmanship there!!

Looks lovely!

Omg that’s skills right there. Don’t think I can do that but I’ll give it a try. Thank you 😊

Good to see how it should be done, I’ve been bodging it for years 👍🏻 thanks for the video

Great work guys

Proper job, enjoyed that

Up and down the entire nation wives are watching Eastenders and Corrie, and their husbands have got the ipad and are watching "how to fit skirting boards".

Great video, I should have searched for this a week ago, would have saved so much time, and head scratching

Fantastic work bro

A sharp chisel, one of life's pleasures, lol. great job.

Another master class with James with a bucket full of 2 minute tips , superb . Roger , I bumped into the guy I served my time with the other day. A brilliant bricky who put me through my apprenticeship. He is still bricklaying and he turns 84 next month ! And he looks great ( rare for a bricky ) but he ALWAYS used to say “If it looks right it is right “ just as you said Rog 😉🧱👍🏼

Very smart job!

Thanks for the video. Great work! How would you cut the scrib if the skirting boards are square?

Well done. Perfect job...👍👍👍

Learned a new method here in the USA Phoenix. This looks amazing. That’ll last 100years

Well explained. I like Robins videos but this chap explains it better.

Well I thought I had the basic idea on how to fit my skirting but after this video I'm completely lost. This is definitely more skilled than many of the others I have watched.

As a decorator I can only say I wish all the trades I have to follow in were as careful/thoughtful with their work as this chap. I've just had to sort some brand new wood veneer skirting that had been 'fitted' with a nail gun! Nail heads were left protruding all over the place, one six ft length had about 20 pins fired into it as they were obviously struggling to get a fixing. Looked like a shot up Messerschmitt!

Another great video

this is how i do my boards. It's true the first few times you do it is frustrating but the method + time becomes a bit of a meditation :D

Last time i saw how to fit skirting boards like this, was Tommy Walsh and Alan over 15 yrs ago. Old school method !!

That’s exactly how I fit skirting boards including the tape on the floor. Works every time. Job well done 👍

very informative

I remember serving my apprentice and luckily I only ever fitted MDF moulding so much easier to correct mistakes (as an apprentice) and a lot more flexible, then hit a brick wall with a 12” torus I just couldnt get the scribe rite, it’s a bit easier now 10 years down the line!! 😂😂 Love James’s work though keep it up 😎😎

GOLD!!

Just realising that James is about as much a perfectionist as Robin.

Really enjoy watching, always been a nemesis for me but after watching this and the tips given i might just make an ok job next time on my home projects. But not to the standard you do. Thank you for posting

Great job James I always use this method but the tape is a great idea.I also use a palm router to take the top off the plugs just set it to the depth but put a bit of tape under it when setting the depth one rub of sandpaper job done. Keep up the good work first class.

lovely work

Love these videos. May I ask, why not get Gripfill and use that instead of drilling for fasteners. And also do you use expansion foam to stuck them as opposed to anything else?

Great video a joiner i worked with many years ago used to put a saw cut in the plugs to allow any air or excess glue to come out

Excellent video mate, really helpful. What type and size of masking tape were you using ? Cheers

I don't know why KZfaq recommended this to me, but I watched the whole thing. Fascinating.

ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO. THANKS GENTS . REGATRS

Nice one guys 👌🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍🏼

Nice guy good work and excellent info..

I like to cut the plugs from the back of the board. Right next to the holes that give me plugs with very close colour and shade. Thanks for another great tip video.

Proper job!

Good to see James back on the SB. Never tried the expanding foam as a fixer before but does make sense, I use a Veritas Flush cutting saw on plugs. Before I first use the saw I always 'take off' one side of the saw with some sandpaper as invariably even when you are careful the teeth mark the wood. Brilliant video Guys👍🏻

Big James is the Boyo. 👍👍

Another great looking job James, and I always followed much the same proceedure when I was working, never used foam though and i'd doubt if the foremen would buy it anyway. I thought you might like 1 tip get yourself a Veritas flush cutting saw, there great if you are plugging skirting much to trim those plugs and will do the job in half the time as well.

Great tips again. Which foam did you use, was it low expansion?

love this channel lots of tips lots of skill and for once most of the comments are banter or sharing sorted

Nice job, I always poor some glue into some of the empty plug hole bit of timber used to cut out the plugs, The plug fits in and gets glue right round then tap into hole saves trying to use glue nosal to get all round plug