How To Remove Skirting Boards: A DIY Guide For Easy Removal

Crowbar easing skirting board away from wall
(Image credit: Getty Images)

How to remove skirting boards will be the question you will be asking yourself when the time comes to replace them. The very nature of skirting boards means that they can take a bit of a beating over the years. They can lose their appeal with chips and dents finally making you decide it's time for change.

Painting skirting boards may rescue and refresh them for a while but you might be finding it difficult to restore them back to their best. On the flip side you might have decided that you don't like the style of the boards and want to update them with a more contemporary design. Or reintroduce skirting boards that fit in the period styling of your home. 

Alternatively, you could be replastering walls, and removing skirting rather than plastering up it could provide a more professional finish.

Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins is a freelance content creator with over two decades of experience working in digital and print and was previously the DIY content editor for Homebuilding & Renovating. 

He is a keen DIYer with over 20 years of experience in transforming and renovating the many homes he has lived in. He specialises in painting and decorating, but has a wide range of skills gleaned from working in the building trade for around 10 years and spending time at night school learning how to plaster and plumb.

He has fitted kitchens, tiled bathrooms and kitchens, laid many floors, built partition walls, plastered walls, plumbed in bathrooms, worked on loft conversions and much more. And when he's not sure how to tackle a DIY project he has a wide network of friends – including plumbers, gas engineers, tilers, carpenters, painters and decorators, electricians and builders – in the trade to call upon.