Carpentry & Joinery

Nightmare with skirting boards

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 2.56 PM

Hi, I have an old terraced property (approx 1900). I am attempting to fit a fireplace surround to a chimney breast (with two alcoves each side) in an upstairs bedroom - this is decoration only as the old chimney has been sealed up. This requires me to remove a section of skirting board in the middle of the chimney so that the surroudn will lay flush against the wall. My inital plan was to use a chisel and hammer to neatly cut this away - after 4 hours i had hardly made a dent on the skirting board!!!! My second plan was to remove the whole piece of skirting board. I gently tested the water and it seemd to be coming off without removing much plaster. However, one the the adjoining skirting boards then cracked. It was an absolute nightmate to get the whole piece off, and has resulted in the adjoining two pieces (that i did not want to remove) coming away from the wall and their other join (internal corners). They were joined at the external corners by nails which made them very difficult to pry apart. The corner from the piece of wood i was removing (the one i would cut and put back on) has split horrizontally too! So i have four main problems/queries 1) What do i do about the skirting board that has cracked but is still half in situ 2) The piece of wood that i have prised off to cut is damaged on one side (split in half horizontally) - i did think about glueing this back together after i have cut it to shape?! 3) If i ever manage to rescue to the skirting board and cut it - how do i reattach?! 4) If i need to buy some new skirting board is it likely i will find one to match?! I must also add that i am relatively new to DIY (if the above hasnt already made that blindingly obvious!). Is this a job for the professionals?!?!?