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I've got very gappy floorboards which are drafty, and also gaps between floorboards and skirting in a couple of places. Any ideas about how I could seal them, please.
Yvette (with the wind whistling round her ankles!!!)

own home or rented?

I have heard - but not tried.. so dont sue me... of using papier mache to fill in gaps.

Have tried papier mache with a little shoe polish to colour & it works!

MW

What a good idea! It is our own home so I can experiment a bit. Will give this a go at the weekend in the gappiest bit near the window..
Thanks so much for the suggestion,
yvette

If the gaps are all across the floor, & you intend laying carpets/rugs, why not lay&nail some sheet hardboard down. I had the same problem with an old house of mine, where there was a cellar,beneath. So hardboard above, & loft insulation beneath, held in place by suspended netting (if you see what i mean). Result? Toast!

yvette wrote:I've got very gappy floorboards which are drafty, and also gaps between floorboards and skirting in a couple of places. Any ideas about how I could seal them, please.
Yvette (with the wind whistling round her ankles!!!)

I never thought of papier mache but have used just plain paper stuffed in the spaces with a screwdriver. If there is not many gaps try a tube of silicone like that stuff you get for bathrooms but buy from a builders merchants as it's cheaper.
If you go the hardboard route then seal the edges of the hardboard to the skirting with silicone.

Just make sure you buy the kind of mastic that can be varnished or painted, rather than the rubbery silicone bathroom type!

Millymollymandy wrote:Just make sure you buy the kind of mastic that can be varnished or painted, rather than the rubbery silicone bathroom type!

I was thinking carpets on top not varnish but good point MMM.

I was told that when floorboards were originally sanded the dust was kept and mixed with varnish to fill the gaps between - I like the sound of the papier mache - I never tried that. Decorators caulk (comes in various colours too) might work better than silicon although it's not as flexible so might not expand and contract with the floor.
I used 1/4 round timber trim round my skirting and floorboards in my old drafty tenement flat - worked a treat and looked good - i just painted it the same colour as the skirting.

fruitcake wrote:I was told that when floorboards were originally sanded the dust was kept and mixed with varnish to fill the gaps between - I like the sound of the papier mache - I never tried that. Decorators caulk (comes in various colours too) might work better than silicon although it's not as flexible so might not expand and contract with the floor.
I used 1/4 round timber trim round my skirting and floorboards in my old drafty tenement flat - worked a treat and looked good - i just painted it the same colour as the skirting.

Maybe I should explain that i LOVE silicone rubber.... probably harks back to when I was a 1/12th scale electric car racer and we had to prep the race tyres with silicone rubber for different types of track and conditions from slicks to hairy. Many hours were spent preping these tyres with the smell of vingar and silicone wafting in the air... intoxicating... move on 30 years and I still have a ( slight) adiction to silicone... lol.

Mix sawdust with wood glue and use an icing bag or similar. Not only does it fill the gaps but it will also blend in with the floor when its sanded. Try your local saw mill or carpenters for some free dust. That's how they did it "in the old days"