Skirting and Floor

[attractivebrunette]

Ok, I pulled off all the old skirting and had my walls re-skimmed. Very nice. Now I want to screw brand new skirting boards to the wall, on top of the laminate floor.

Now, the old skirting was fairly thin and fitted snug between the floor and the walls. However my new skirting is thicker and must be laid on top of the floor, as it won't squeeze into the gap between the floor and the wall.

No problem. However, my laminate floor has a dip in the middle of it so there is a gap under the skirting, in the middle of the floor and the middle of the skirting board. So the skirting is fine at each end but there is a gap in the middle (3 pictures attached).

Once the skirting is on, I will be fitting a new carpet on top of the laminate. My question is, does this gap matter if I'm putting a carpet down? Will the carpet 'cover' the height of the gap? Or will I still be left with a gap? What are my options?

 

[xerxes]

Hello and welcome to the forum, Attractivebrunette. Others would say, let us be the judge of that. Not me, I'm much more polite.

I assume this will be a fitted carpet. If you measure the approximate thickness of the carpet, and the gap under the skirting board where it is greatest, you will be able to judge for yourself whether the carpet will hide the gap, or not.

You can fill the gap with, for example, flexible decorator's filler. However, this won't disguise the fact that there are dips in the floor. You will have to decide whether you can live with the dips, or if you want to level the floor before laying the carpet.

 

[Symptoms]

ab - introduce a number of vertical saw cuts roughly where the dip is, about 1/2 to 3/4 across the height, spaced about 25mm apart (these cuts should start at the base). By doing this you will allow the skirting to be bent downwards, thus covering the gap. Fix the skirting, fill the saw cuts then prime, undercoat, finish as you would have done.