I'm decorating a period property and I wanted to put skirting around a corner. I tried kerfing the mdf, and covered it in easi-filler, sanded and painted, but it seems to dent easily in some places. Any clues how best to cover and decorate it?
Kerfed, flexible mdf is available from any good timber merchant, the kerf side would be best used on the inner side.
Urgh... That bottom but is best tackled with a belt sander, I think - something pretty brutal but which you can 'roll' around the corner to flatten the bumps. But first all that loose stuff will need chipping orf, and I suspect you are then best off with a skim of 2-pack filler so's it won't (hopefully) crumble...)
Can't see the pics, for some reason. What sort of radius are you forming? MDF, can be shaped into some rather tight bends over a couple of days, without the need for kerfing.
I didn't kerf I had tried with the mdf, but they kept breaking. So I ended up cutting into slices and gluing them onto the wall! I'm no carpenter, and It's for my own house don't worry I wonder if I can get the same type of skirting in flexible mdf :/ - but really just want fix this small problem patch as I already decorated the walls around it.
Whilst you can get flexible MDF / PLY it won't help you with the top - which to be honest the top isn't a bad job. I would take off the old filler and go for a two part woodfiller like ronseal which can be sanded. Don't mix up too much in one go as the workable like is quite short.
Loosk like only the bottom curve requires replacing, benefits would be inexpensive and a very quick solution.
Ideally take it all of and replace. Replacing just the bottom will be a fiddly job to cut along the shoulder and then replace with the right thickness ply
Chip it off and start again building up layers of 2pk filler as Sospan said. You need a large spreader, same height as skirting and slightly flexible . Spread it so it's flat in one or two passes, then stop playing with it. Get a block and 80 grit to knock off the top and feather edges, then fill again /sand till shape is correct. At this stage, put one more final spread on just to take out the scratches from the 80 grit. Finish now with 120 grit and then prime. YouTube 'car body filler' etc to get an idea of the techniques as in this instance, the technique is pretty much the same, except you won't need to be quite as perfect as doing it on a car
Using flexible mdf skirting boards was definitely something I had in mind before even attempting cutting up / kerfing my skirting. Unfortunately I could not find anything similar to my Torus. Thanks guys for the 2pk filler advice. I already attempted filling it again today, so probably will use the woodfiller next time if it fails again.
No problem, All this kind of stuff is a learning curve and even the experienced guys have successes and failures - which is why we know a lot about fillers
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