Skirting boards cracking away from wall

[tyewbrey]

Hi,

I know similar questions have been asked to this but I would like a bit of advice on this particular issue.

About 3 months ago I laid a laminate floor in our dining room and hall, there is a concrete subfloor and I used the underlay with the built in damp proof membrane. The floor is fine but the skirting along two of the walls has started to come away from the wall slightly, causing the paint to crack. The cracks range from very thin hairline cracks to areas about 3mm wide, this has happened mainly on an outside wall that has the radiator on it, and also a couple of small areas on the other outside wall. Both outside walls have grass against them. The house is approx. 11 years old.

Why would this have happened after changing the floor, I am assuming it is something to do with moisture? But as I used the recommended underlay etc I am a bit miffed. Is it anything to worry about or can I just fill it in? There are no other obvious signs of damp and the skirting and wall feels completely dry.

Advice greatly appreciated.

Tom

[Puma]

Usually skirtings crack as they have not been fixed in properly. When they are knocked they move and the cracks show. Kick them a bit to check for movement. Fix them with well placed screws.

It can also be caused by contraction through the drying of the wood.

[PaintyLee]

I would have to agree with Puma, it sounds like they are poorly fixed.
It could be that the change of flooring has allowed a slight change in temperature, but it'll only be minimal and shouldn't create 3mm splits.

As Puma says I would check for movement and re-fix appropriatly, screws and rawl plugs, then a bead of decorators caulk to fill any remaining gaps. Caulk is flexible and should allow for a small amount of movement with the varying temperatures you might expect with an outside wall..

Good luck let us know how you get on.

[tyewbrey]

Thanks a lot, I may have given the boards a few knocks when doing the new floor. The gaps did not appear immediately after fitting the new floor though, I didn't notice them until about a month after, in fact it is still appearing slowly as it gets slightly longer. Do you still think poor fixing is the cause?

Cheers,
Tom

[upagumtree]

I would rake out what caulk is there (if any has been used that is) and if the movement isn't too much work the caulk well into the gap, once the caulk goes off it acts as a really good adhesive which has a degree of flex to it to allow for expansion and contraction according to temerature and humidity.

If the movement is severe then look at refixing the trim with screws/glue, skirtings should stand a few knocks without coming loose.

[ayjay]

If the floor was laid tight to the skirting it could be that the floor is expanding and pushing back the bottom of the skirting, there's often very little plaster right at the bottom of a wall.

[54aardvark]

The gaps did not appear immediately after fitting the new floor though, I didn't notice them until about a month after, in fact it is still appearing slowly as it gets slightly longer.

Did you ensure an adequate expansion gap all round when you fitted the floor? Recommended 10mm so that if the flooring expands with humidity/temperature it won't butt up to the skirtings putting pressure on. Generally this results in the laminate boards buckling but with the pressure on the lower part of the skirts it can cause them to move out along the top edges if they havent been adequately fixed in the first place causing cracks.

Easy to check, if you just pop off some of the beading and the boards are tight on the skirting thats the problem. Solution is to lift the floor (number each length for when you refit) and take 20mm off 2 adjacent sides.

Agree with above posts, refix and decorators caulk - not silicone please!

Oops - Ayjay beat me to it

[tyewbrey]

Hi, I did leave the expansion gap and filled it with cork strips, some guides said I should put cork in others did not, but I did it anyway, It was a bit of a squeeze to get the cork in in places where I must have cut or measured poorly, and a bit of a mix and match spacer use, I realised about half way through that homebase spacers seem to be 12mm and b and q 10mm.

I did consider this tight fit might be the problem but my wife put me off the idea!!

Overall though it seems like it isn't too big an issue, and refixing and caulking should sort it though.

Thanks to all for the input.

Tom

[big-all]

same answer as tother place

is there still an expansion gap ??
my thoughts are the floor has expanded and pushing the bottom in and the top is pivoting out