Skirting board and wall gaps

Adam

Adam

Adam

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I’m coming to the end of a loft conversion and the finishing touches are being made. The builder (more of a carpenter judging by the wooden structures he built for the dormer et I’d say) has fitted the skirting board and architrave.

I’ve had this MDF skirting fitted all through my house and wasn’t left with the size of gaps that I have in certain rooms. Every wall has been put up by them, so you would hope they are as straight as possible.

https://i.imgur.com/SrnDqNL.jpg

I haven’t got lights upstairs yet but I can see with a torch some
Of the gaps are around 4-5mm and look quite sizeable. There is obviously an onus on me to make a lot of this stuff good when I decorate but are these kind of gaps to be expected? Most walls have a small gap which I’ll caulk but others are 4-5mm as mentioned above and may be harder to resolve.
 
How is the skirting board fixed to the wall? Is it screwed or bonded with grip fill? Ultimately it could be either the wall or the skirting that's not square... Have you got a long level to check the wall? Ultimately as your paying them to do it and your not happy, tell them and they will have to rectify it...
 
I’ll add some pictures of the architrave later, in every room it’s been fitted incorrectly and the gaps are enormous. I can almost fit my finger in the gaps!

We have raised it with him and will talk about it today. I think he has rushed it as I have the same architrave and skirting throughout the entire house and don’t have any issues (upstairs was fitted by an apprentice and it’s perfect!).
 
Looks like an adhesive gap. As in hes used grip fill and that HAS to sit between the skirt and wall, creating a gap. Which once caulked and painted you wont see.

Possibly same with the arch's. Although they may be more of a plastering issue. The arch's will be fixed to the door frame, flat. If the plasterer hasn't plastered to the door frames or the door frames are proud then there will be a gap. This gap should be filled and caulked and painted.

I'm a fussy git and I don't notice these small "features" anymore.

Although it does look like the lazy git hasn't bothered to Mitre/Scribe the skirts into the corners.
 
Don`t think he could scribe that design of skirting.Big flat square edge top
Just as said just caulk and paint
IF the gap for architrave is as big as you said you could get him to scribe a small thin beading to cover the sides (top should not be seen anyway)
 
mattyg said:
Although it does look like the lazy git hasn't bothered to Mitre/Scribe the skirts into the corners.
Click to expand...

That would bug me if I was paying for someone else to do it.
The thing is that it's easy to do. Even if you're a little bit off (like I was at times as an ultra noob DIY'r) a little bit of filler and you're sorted.
 
You'd be hard pushed to scribe that design of skirting it is effectively a giant slab of wood with a tiny groove.

Those top gaps are unacceptable if those are fresh plaster board and skim walls make him do it again.
 
Last edited:
a1ex2001 said:
You'd be hard pushed to scribe that design of skirting it is effectively a giant slab of wood with a tiny groove. Those top gaps are unbacrotable if those are fresh plaster board and skim walls make him fonit again.
Click to expand...

ANDARIAL said:
:confused: English please:D:D:D
Click to expand...


"Google" said:
Unbacrotable

Did you mean:
unburritable

uncrustable

uncortable

uncrittable


No results containing all your search terms were found.

Your search - unbacrotable - did not match any documents.

Suggestions:

  • Make sure that all words are spelled correctly.
  • Try different keywords.
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Click to expand...
Fonit
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonit


Closest I can get!!:D:D;)
 
Internal mitres are a bit naff.Fill/caulk them
External don`t look too bad
Gaps around the architrave are bad though(Door linings were too wide and were not planed down)
 
The internal corner is poor, bit caulk will resolve. If it was me I would be happy with the finish apart from the architrave. That needs sorting
 
Thanks for taking a look, if I can fill it sufficiently then I’ll be happy and I’m sure it won’t look as bad as it does now.

Will caulk do the job or should I use some easifill first in the larger gaps?
 
That's quite bad workmanship and if youve paid for it you deserve better. It takes hardly anymore time to butt joint those corners perfectly than how they are now, not really any point scribing that design.
I'd be tempted to trim around the architrave with 25x25mm and cover the gap than attempt to fill it and take 25mm off the skirting board with a multi tool (looks like the plaster is proud of the door frame)
 
I agree that it's generally bad workmanship, but nothing that can't be made good (other than the architrave).

All caulk is frustrating nowadays. It shrinks and continues to do so weeks afterwards. I personally caulk the big gaps. Wait a week then use filler on top.
 
I'm in a similar position to you, although i did all the work myself (apart from the plastering), I have a similar issue in that I am going to have to use a lot of caulk in places.
that architrave is pretty bad though, my worst one wasn't that bad, there is a simple fix in that you can put a screw through the corner into the timber behind, and cover up with filler.
Not sure it would work in your case though.

One question, do you normally paint caulk after it has been put on skirts/architraves or leave it white ?
In loft i have dark grey woodwork, on my landing I have stained dark wood, wasn't planning on painting the caulk if I am honest.
 
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