Hi, we have just had a room re-plastered and removed the old skirting boards to do this. The plasterers have left a fairly large gap (roughly 5 inch) at the bottom of the plaster. One joiner mentioned the gap was too large and that he is going to have to pad it out before fitting the skirtings. Could somebody confirm whether it is the plasterers job or the joiners job to fill out the gap? Thanks for your help!
Aargh - what a pain. It is common - usual, even - for a plasterer to leave a gap there, and for sound reasons. Mostly it's to prevent him picking up 'bits' from the floor that would mess up his spread. However 5" is ridiculous! Some skirting boards are less than this! And even ones that are tall enough to cover the absence of plaster will have nothing to press against and support it below the top. The plasterer was a git. However, I don't know if there's a consensus as to who should be doing what. I suspect he's an 'old school' type and expects the chippie to fit packing pieces as part of his remit. But, I think the more modern approach would be to leave chust a 1"-ish gap so that the skirting board goes straight on. Part of that reasoning is that it's as common to glue skirting boards to walls than to use 'fixings', and that relies on a good flat surface to bond to. Did the plasterer know what size of skirting was going on? I'd be tempted to buy a short length of cheapo 3" skirting to make a point and call the guy back. (It might be possible for the chippie to use an expanding 'foam' type adhesive that'll fill the gap nicely - we'll see what others have to say.)
Similar scenario when I had the dining room skimmed a few weeks ago... but more like 3 inches than 5 ... I filled and smoothed the gap with some ready mix from wickes leaving it nice and level for the new skirtings. Never understood why my plasterer didn't go right to the floor but devils sdvocate explanation makes sense.
Thank you for your advice, that's great! We were a bit confused about the massive gap, and one joiner didn't seem to think it was a problem and said he would just fill it out and has presumably added this to his fee. Before the plasterers started they asked us what size skirtings we wanted, and we said 5 inch, so maybe that is why the gaps are so big?
In the last house our plasterer, a good one, not like the ones we have had here via our rubbish builder, left a 1" gap at the bottom when he did 2 walls for us.
If your carpenter is happy to pack the gap out then that's danger averted, but your plasterer should have plastered right down to the floor less an inch or so.
Bonding plaster, float, straight edge If you DIY it, around £7 (if you have / borrow a float) Bonding plaster...... lovely stuff, perfect for this application Brush of loose dusty material, damp down, mix up, slap on, float, check level with wall with straight edge (long level or straight length timber) Allow to dry Nice level surface for skirts, ready to glue, foam, pin, plug & screw, etc However, if ur joiner is sorting this, then it's even easier and just pay the bill at the end
Looks like Christine will have to pay extra to the chippie for packing this out. A good lesson to be learnt by us all - the next time a plasterer comes to your house, show him a strip of 1" high wood moulding and tell him that's the skirting to be fitted - you are going for a minimalist look...
Thank you for all of your help guys, it is very much appreciated! We've found a chippy who will do it for us, and we will use another plasterer next time. Thanks again
Never has 5" meant more to a plasterer (I'm ashamed... ) Pleased it's sorted . (If the job he did was otherwise of good quality and was a fair price, then please don't necessarily discount him next time, but chust make sure he knows what you expect. And that's 1" max. Ooh-err, missus.)
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