Skirting and architrave are easy to overlook until a length goes missing. A section is damaged by damp, a doorway is moved, or a wall comes out, and suddenly the new piece of moulding is sitting next to the old one and the difference is obvious.
In older houses the profile you need is rarely in stock. Here is how a profile is matched properly, and when it is worth doing.
Why stock mouldings rarely match
Builders' merchants sell a range of standard profiles: torus, ogee, chamfered and so on. They are useful, but the moulding in an older house was often run by hand or made to a profile the builder liked at the time. The curves, the depth and the height are rarely quite the same as anything off the shelf.
Paint makes it worse. Decades of layers soften the edges of an old moulding, so even a close match can look sharper and newer next to it.
Taking the profile
The first step is a clean section of the original. A short offcut is ideal, often from behind a radiator or inside a cupboard where nobody will miss it. Failing that, the profile can be taken from the wall with a profile gauge, then drawn out full size.
The height and thickness matter as much as the shape. A new skirting that is a few millimetres taller than the old one will be visible all the way along.
Making the new moulding
Once the profile is known, the new length is made to match. Depending on the shape and the quantity, that might mean combining cutters, shaping by hand, or having a short run machined. The aim is the same: new timber that reads as part of the original.
Choose timber that suits where it is going. Softwood is normal for painted skirting in most older houses. Hardwood makes sense where the original is hardwood, or the finish is to be left natural.
Fitting so the join disappears
Where new meets old along a wall, the join is usually made with a scarf joint, an angled cut that overlaps rather than butting square, so any movement does not open a visible line. In corners the moulding is scribed rather than mitred where the wall is out of square, which keeps the joint tight.
Floors in older houses are rarely level, so the bottom edge of the skirting may need to be scribed to the floor as well. Filled gaps tend to crack over time. A scribed edge does not.
Painting to blend in
Even a perfect profile can look new next to a moulding with fifty years of paint on it. A good primer, and paint carried along to a natural break such as a corner or a door, helps the old and new read as one.
Doors, windows and architrave
Architrave around doors and windows is matched in the same way. On period houses it often ties in with the window boards and reveals, so if one window is being repaired or replaced it is worth matching the surrounds at the same time. We covered window repairs in rotten timber windows: repair or replace.
When matching is worth it
Copying an original profile is worth doing when:
- Only part of a room needs new skirting, and the rest is staying.
- The house is listed or in a conservation area and the original character matters.
- An opening has been moved and the moulding needs to run around it.
- The original is a feature of the house, such as tall Victorian or Edwardian skirting.
Repair or replace the whole room?
If most of the original moulding in a room is damaged, and the house is not listed, replacing the whole room with a new profile is sometimes simpler. Where most of it is sound, matching a short length keeps the character and costs less in materials.
Soft or crumbling skirting is often a sign of damp behind it. Find and fix the cause before new timber goes in, or the new length will go the same way. Our general carpentry repairs page covers rotten skirting and architrave.
Need a carpenter?
LGR Carpentry and Joinery matches skirting and architrave profiles taken off the originals, across Surrey and Sussex, including Guildford and Godalming. See more on the made-to-measure joinery page.
Read more about made-to-measure joinery, general carpentry repairs and windows & period joinery, or see the work Luke does in Guildford and Godalming. You can also ask for a free quote.