You’ve gotten plenty of answers on the gap, but FWIW, those floors aren’t laminate. They look to be an engineered hardwood, possibly a maple veneer. You should consider having the floor refinished and stained to a color you prefer rather than replacing it. That’s a high quality floor, and while it won’t have the same thickness of actual wood (maybe 1/4-5/16 inch) for refinishing, these floors can usually be refinished 1-3 times during their lifetime if the gouges aren’t too deep and depending on the thickness of the veneer.
Came to say this too. OP, do not replace those floors. They cost far more than whatever you’re planning to put in. Refinish them if you don’t like the color.
You can tell they’re not solid hardwood (or solid softwood) because they’re installed in obvious sections of three planks wide. That would be typical of a laminate, however that is also common for an engineered wood plank as well. I believe it is engineered wood and not laminate because of the way the scuffing and wear and tear looks. With laminate, some of those deeper scuffs wouldn’t show wood underneath the way these do. You would also see some more peeling along the edges and corners of each panel if this were a laminate floor with the amount of wear and tear on it. This is what leads me to believe it is engineered wood.
Picture one definitely gives away the manufactured sections of floor. You are right.
Picture 3 shows where the radiator bolts/goes through the floor. You can definitely tell that it’s not like hardwood individual board flooring like tongue n groove. Picture 4 shows how for lack of better term, sloppy, they cut through the baseboard for the radiator line. I really feel like if the floors were individual boards, they would look similar for drilling/mounting.
I have laminate flooring and mine is a lot more shiny and fake looking too lol. I also feel like thinking the floor is cheap, in your warehouse apartment with old radiator heaters, is a bit of misplaced concern. lol
I worked in a flooring company. The easiest way to tell in person is to feel any knots in the wood. Laminate is basically just a printed on pattern, so the knots would feel smooth just like the rest of the board. An engineered or Solid wood floor you would feel the rough texture of the knot.
With these floors, you can tell by the wear and tear. Those scratches that you can see will only really happen to engineered or Solid wood, laminate will develop more like markings or cracks
Flooring sales rep here. For this particular picture, you’re right on the money for the wear and tear piece. That said, what you mentioned about feeling the knots is no longer true. LVP and laminate both come with different levels of embossing now, the top level known as “Embossed In Register” meaning they will create texturing to match the graining, so you’ll actually feel what you see. The cheapest ones don’t have it but anything worth buying does.
You’re right, I didn’t look close enough at the pattern. I also said historic, not prehistoric. I review tax credits for historic buildings, and I see a lot of old factories being repurposed as housing, and when I looked quickly at it and saw the existing damage, I was thinking the odd cuts were because there was old wood that they mixed in with new.
See how there’s a seam every three planks where three rows end at the same spot? Thats because the laminate planks have three rows of boards on them. Each laminate plank is somewhere around 9”x48”. If this was solid wood flooring not one row of flooring would end right next to another rows end. With solid wood flooring you get a bunch of random sizes and the installer makes sure none of the ends line up with another or are even close. You don’t even want ends to line up with another a few rows away.
Depending on the engineered flooring of course. I’m installing 1500sqft another flooring company sold the customer with the promise it can be sanded and finished a few times as well, but the wear-layer is literally wafer thin and absolutely CANNOT be sanded. Maybe refinished with a light buff and coat.
The stain will often penetrate the entire wear layer to the point you can’t sand it clean without going through. It’s a joke that these companies make these promises but refinishing is my bread and butter, and I don’t see how it can be done. I even have a Bona multidisc that was advertised to us as great for these floors but it’s often not.
There ARE engineered options that can be sanded, but it’s risky to assume without seeing a cross section.
You’re right, the wear layer could be very thin, however it does seem based on some of the deeper gouges/scratches that there is a solid amount of wood there in the veneer. Of course, as you say, it’s impossible to know without getting up close and personal. I’m only trying to give OP a heads up to consider refinishing since it may be possible depending on the product used.
This person floors.
Our house had gorgeous engineered hardwood when we bought it. We knew from the plank size it was engineered, not “real”, but we thought it would be ok.
The wear layer can’t be more than 2mm. Ten years later, high traffic areas you can almost see the non-veneer wood. Garbage product.
I'm going to add on to this. You can rent a floor drum sander plus an edge disk sander, and buy the cheap, cheap tools needed to varnish the floor. All in, you can probably refinish this floor yourself for 50p per square foot or less. It's also one of the easiest renovations you can do; nearly as easy as painting the walls.
After the floor's refinished, you can nail some quarter round at the gap to hide it, which is common to the point of ubiquity in North America at least.
Remember though, you’re suggesting this to someone who thought this floor was laminate. Probably not the best idea for them to take this on as a do it yourself job.
Engineered hardwood floors with a veneer are not generally able to be refinished. “Veneer” means “thin layer”. They’re pressed boards (like a laminate) with a thin hardwood layer on top (vs a printed layer and wear layer that laminate has).
They’re *generally* the cheapest option you can put down and still call it “hardwood” without actually putting down 3/4” hardwood or a laminate that will actually last.
To cover the gap, just put down quarter round to hide it and not impede the floor’s ability to expand and contract.
I bought quite expensive pre finished engineered hardwood in my last house. It had a 4mm veneer "wear layer," so it could be refinished several times. Bottom was 4mm of same hardwood, and the rest was filleted hardwood with grain perpendicular to the veneer grain. It costs similar to real hardwood but is more dimensionally stable so it does not expand and contract to the same extent. Can also get wider boards.
Engineered hardwood is not always cheap.
So to refinish a hardwood floor, you usually need to be able to take off 1/8”. 4mm is .15”. 1/8” is .12”. You get *maybe* one refinish out of that if you know what you’re doing.
Take off too much and you hit ugly pressed boards and ruin your floor all together. There is a possibility that people have different definitions of “engineered hardwood” though, so grain of salt. To me, it’s a pressed board (usually click lock), with a wood veneer. But there can definitely be different definitions.
And when I said “wear layer” I was talking a literal layer to protect the floor itself. It’s not the color on the floor. It’s the scratch protection and water protection (which engineered does not come with, due to it being a wood veneer, though the stain does provide some “water resistance”).
🤷🏻♀️ I just sell the stuff.
This doesn’t really matter since they are planning on changing the layout, all the floors would have to go anyway - if you are moving walls it’s not worth it to patch and match with that floor.
In Europe that floor is the cheapest type of engineered hardwood (it’s oak btw) and it doesn’t really look like a high quality floor. OP, this doesn’t say anything about the quality of the structure.
I have an old house. Our kitchen floor has quarter inch gaps between EACH FLOORBOARD.
Stuff spills in it all the time. If it’s horrible a shopvac handles it. If it’s not I just ignore it. Is it great? No! Is it the end of the world? Not at all.
I see your point; at the same time I feel if you seal the bottom they (whatever they are) will then crawl out the top and fall on my head while I'm sleeping.
Well even if the base is sitting right on the floor it sure isn't going to be waterproof.
OP could add a shoe moulding if they would like the gap covered.
Caulk it..... This is from the floors being sanded and the trim not being replaced or lowered. So now there is a gap because the floor is lower then the edging behind the base boards.
You caulk this.
I was thinking it could have been carpeted at one point and the baseboards were never lowered after the carpet was removed. Seems like some quarter round would do better than caulk?
Quarter round would absolutely be better.
I’ve just lived in an infested apartment and I sealed my unit with caulk everywhere. Including taking the quarter rounds off sealing the gap between the wall and the base boards and putting the quarter rounds back.
Give no crevice for food dirt or bugs.
Gap isn’t a huge issue, but the floors obviously aren’t level. If OP happens to value a level floor over the floor material, he would have to take this up and level the floor (very time consuming but not difficult). I suppose there’s he option to lay down the same floor he took up if he’s meticulous and it isn’t otherwise attached to the subfloor
Well, it's an old warehouse, so the floors I imagine are far from flat/level? the baseboard *should* have been scribed to the floor, but someone trimming out a ton of places doesn't have time for that.
Why shoe molding? We wanted to put the locking vinyl planks and my grandpa said to hide the gaps we would have to put quarter round on all the trim. Quick google search shows shoe round is slimmer and taller?
Both shoe molding and quarter round look shitty to me. For gaps like OP has where the flooring goes under the trim there I would much rather put some tape down and fill the gap with some paintable caulk. Would look much cleaner. Shoe/quarter round is for when someone is lazy putting new flooring down
Caulk is okay if the base is scribed and not real wood. Otherwise, in my experience, it tends to crack eventually. It is pretty easy to touch up though.
IT would help with air infiltration, pest infiltration, and odor infiltration and If there were a flood, it would slow the water infiltration somewhat. And it would look a hella lot better.
Old structures need quarter round or similar on baseboards to remove obvious unlevelness. You learn to live with carpenter squares being the only 90degree angle in the house!
On that last note - I live in a 130-year-old folk victorian house. Someone bought me corner shelves. Unfortunately, most of the wall junctions are not 90 degrees, so I can't put them anywhere helpful.
I dunno. Quarter round looks so bad and old fashioned. (I have it in my house). Usually now they like the flat look. The only thing you can really do is scribe the waviness and cut to match. It takes time but it will look good in the end.
To me it appears to just be very thin double glazing. Temperature of the place was ok given it’s quite exposed and the heating has been off for some months.
What was the energy rating like for the place? It's all fun and games until you have to pay out the nose for heating.
To be fair, just finding an okay place in London is hard.
What does the cross section of the wall look like? Has modern insulation been added on the outside of the brickwork or possibly in the cavity between the two layers of brickwork?
https://fet.uwe.ac.uk/conweb/house_ages/elements/print.htm
Don’t worry about it, it was just someone who took the easiest way out but it’s not unsound or in anyway bad except potentially aesthetically annoying. I also think you’ll never notice it once you have furniture in there.
It looks like an older building that has been renovated into flats? In these situations, there is no such thing as level, plumb, or flush.
It's not a problem.
Yeah I bought an old house. From the 20s. Of course the foundation has settled and will continue for the life of the home. That’s the next idiots problem.
Yeah I have had several people in my life complain about shit like this but can't afford new so they proceed to say why their old house is a piece of shit because it is not perfectly square... That is part of owning a old house my man....
Baseboards aren't functional.
It is likely that there was carpet or something else, and they replaced with floating laminate or vinyl which is much thinner and never redid baseboards. This is pretty common, though still a little cheap/lazy. Most people who do this just add corner round on top of the baseboards.
If you do add corner round and it IS a floating floor, make sure you only shoot the corner round into the baseboard and not the floor. the floors have expansion and could buckle.
Yes, just finished a remodel and replaced original carpet with laminate flooring and it left a gap. So it was either do quarter round or move the baseboards down 1/2 inch. I moved the baseboards down. And then the place where the walls met the baseboards originally had years of paint that stopped at that point, and it was raised there and looked awful, Needed to be sanded/scraped. No way. Too much work. So I moved the baseboards back to their original spot and live with the gap. I’m pretty OCD and it bothered me for a bit, but compared to all that worK OR adding crappy quarter round, I can live with it.
Moving the baseboards down really only works if your floor is flat. For the best look if your floors aren't completely flat, you should scribe the floor onto the baseboard and cut it so it's perfectly in line with the floor. It's actually a fairly simple process with a tablesaw and access to youtube.
How nice, they left you a chase for the network cables and extension cords.
In agreement with others, I bet they did the trim before the floor. My house looks like this after going from carpet to fake wood.
I live in a converted warehouse and I have a similar gap. You should see if there is a gap behind the drywall skirting, especially following where the gas, electricity, and plumbing lines go. Often those lines have gaps all the way to the ground floor or basement, which can let in pests (mice, rats).
I'm living in a house that is only 4 years old. Our wall skirting looks exactly like that. Here it is because the skirting was applied way before the floor screed had enough time to settle. The whole floor in the house sunk a good centimeter since we've moved in and has now settled. We don't care much as we're only tenants. Our landlord is informed, but doesn't care much either. It's a purely esthetical issue and it doesn't bother us enough in order to have the workmen in the house for a couple days, move all the furniture and make a huge mess to correct it.
I’m surprised no one has said to just use caulking or silicone to fill the gap. This would essentially remove it completely, without you making any massive changes (re-molding).
You could even talk to the owner/landlord(s) and see if they would get it done.
"Do these gaps tell us something about the overall structure?"
Yes. It means that the floor isn't level. This can be due to a few reasons, wood subfloor is wavy, (if you have real wood floors) natural movement of wood floors, building foundation shifting causing buckling. To be honest, it's probably because your floor isn't level. Nothing wrong with that, it happens in lots of old buildings and considering you said it was an old warehouse, I'd say it's fine.
"Or are they just shoddy craftsmanship?"
Meh. Depends on where you are in the world and what you expect for the money? Whoever was hired may not have been paid sufficiently to perform the BEST work possible. For example, assuming the floor was wavy, you'd have to either:
Method 1 - THE PROPER WAY
1 - Prepare the subfloor, and waterproof (foam) between non-ground level floors.
2 - If working on concrete, then a scarifier might be used.
3a - Put down new subfloor, of install concrete board should you want to pour all new flooring. Depends on if you want the sound isolation, or if you're trying to do the basement.
3b - After the floor is sealed, you would pour floor leveler. It's a thin concrete "paste" which can be poured on the entire floor, or just in low spots of the floor.
4 - Once the floor is leveled, now you can install your new engineered wood, vinyl, or tile.
5 - Install baseboard on your very flat floor and not have to worry about gaps.
Method 2 - The Bandaid
1 - You could actually scribe all the baseboards. That means sanding and cutting baseboards to the natural wave of the floor. This will result in a very nice finish, but may not be a good long term solution should the floor shift or naturally shrink and expand with the season. Many floors require some gap at the baseboard to allow the flooring to naturally "shift."
2 - Baseboard can also be quite flexible, in some cases you can push the baseboard down to match the curve of the floor.
Method 3 - Everything is fine with caulk.
1 - Take some big stretch silicon-esque caulking to fill the gap at the bottom. This will seal the gap to give you a finished look, but allow the floor to move. You could also use wood filler, bondo, or mud, however due to transitions at plane, caulk is the best for filling that gap.
2 - After the caulking, you'd need to re-gloss paint the baseboard to avoid the "cheap" caulking look. Also, caulking likes to shrink back which means backer rod might be needed to make the baseboard look flush.
Method 4 - What you have.
1 - Baseboards have been installed to a laser leveled line, and whatever waves in the floor are what you have. Not enough money to caulk, not enough money to scribe, not enough money to re-do the floor, not enough information to understand what the problem might be, SOOOOOO, install "level" and the gap is the gap, but allows for the floor shifting.
I wouldn't call it "shoddy" work, but probably lack of funds to do a proper job.
Your best bet is to use a 1/4 round molding around to make up the difference. Floors settle over time, especially when they have heavy items on them for long periods.
Go around the gaps and find the widest gap. Then head to your local big box store and get 1/4 round molding that is at least 1.5 times that gap. Paint it the same color as the other molding. You can tack it into place with headless nails every 2 to 3 feet, and then fill the nail holes with paste or caulk of the same color.
Likely an unlevel floor. It's very common. Especially if it's an old warehouse. Add quarter round to cover it or if replacing flooring make sure you use leveling compound.
I think I recognise the building and the area. If it is the one I think it is run the building owner is useless borderline criminal. And even if it's only similar those single glazed windows will be incredibly draughty and cold.
They are neither an indication of something wrong nor of shoddy workmanship. Older buildings have character (imperfect floors, etc.).
Baseboard is rigid and is to be installed in a level line. That is why shoe mold is installed. It has flexibility to follow the contours of the floor.
I wouldn’t fill the gap - I live in a mill conversion and was told we have floating skirting boards as the building ‘moves’. They did cheap out so this could be BS, however in the bathroom in mine there was sealant in the gap which now is not attached. Annoyingly the floor shakes when a washing machine is on spin in a nearby flat though.
That's literally what shoe molding is for.
https://preview.redd.it/ajg2d016vz4c1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eaecbe27d92374cad559686b91bd612882ffd3a8
It happens especially with renovations they subfloor is no longer level and if the baseboard is mounted flush to the floor the top of the baseboard will look crooked as hell. Behind the gap is sheetrock. Doesn't look great but it depends on the price too
The gap is fine.
How a wall is made: (one of the ways) put a 2x4 on the floor, nail it in place. Put a 2x4 on the ceiling, nail it there. Put some vertical 2x4 at 12/16/24" and nail it there. and this is where it get interessing: drywall the ceiling, then cut the drywall for the walls with a small gap, you don't want it compress when the wood change length due to drying and all. So what do you do with that gap? You lift the sheet to the ceiling and screw it there, leaving the gap at the bottom. It will be only about 1/4-1/2" so still on the floor 2x4.
So, the drywall is well fastened, suspended on the wall. The structural part (the 2x4) are strongly in place with no gap.
And this is where the magic happen: normally, the baseboard installer will follow the floor to eliminate the gap. This one did not. It look bad, but it is not an issue.
Late reply OP but that gap is functional, it allows the flooring to slide underneath as it expands/contracts in changing temperatures. Normally it’s only a couple mm but given the type of property, you will get some variation.
Also that’s either hardwood or engineered wood flooring. Do not get rid of it, stain it another colour.
Those aren't just baseboards (skirting boards in the UK), which even in stately homes don't run that thick. You can see they've actually boxed in mains electric and possibly plumbing as well rather than run them under the floor and chase them into the wall. Likely to avoid lifting the floor.
For a property that's been converted I think it'd be worth having a building survey done rather than just a homebuyer's report (but I wouldn't go full structural survery).
What should concern you the most is the gas bills for that place as there seems to be no insulation. As for the floor... A carpet would hide the gap. It looks like that that is not just skirting but a box to hide the heating pipes and the power lines
Not a concern, not an indication of a problem. Concrete floors are never perfectly flat and wood doesn't bend easily. The floor is likely thin vinyl or laminate. Vinyl plank is a good quality product that is durable and waterproof. It settles into the contours of the existing floor and these gaps will show. This is not shoddy craftsmanship. It's nearly unavoidable over concrete, and vinyl is your best option in this case
You are getting lots of advice but here is more — this is pretty normal over time. Wood shrinks and swells and as a result this gap may occur. Ideally in new construction it isn’t there but over time this is just what happens with real wood. You should never caulk this gap. That prevents the natural movement of the wood which can cause other issues for you later.
This probably had carpet installed at one point. All you need to do is install quarter round trim ( 1/4 of a circle) to fit over the gap and it'll look perfect! Did it to my house when I bought it. Although, if you are installing it yourself, just make sure you measure the gap height, use the right kind of nails (Brad nailer), and I would prestain or prepaint before installing.
That ain't laminate.
They will come up beautifully. Get a decent festool sander. Start with a coarse grit sand paper and work up to a fine grit paper.
Then stain with a good quality oil. It will look like new.
Get some beading to cover up those gaps.
Professional floor refinisher here..
The unevenness of the floor could be a problem with the foundation or shifts in the slab. You need an inspector to check it out.
The wood floor is an engineered oak floor. They call this 3-strip, you get 3 strips on each plank.
Usually with these you can finish them at least twice before the top layer is worn through. This floor looks like it could be sanded, no way of telling unless you check the thickness from the side.
If there are no problems with the subfloor, to covert the gap i would do as follows:
1. Fill the gap with silicone.
2. Install white vinyl quarter round
3. Caulk and paint
4. If there's still a gap under the wuarter round fill that with white silicone
We call them skirting boards not baseboards and we call drywall plaster board. Source: British. I imagine it’s a septic making this post hence the mix of correct and incorrect English.
It's (London) Cockney rhyming slang. Septic is the first half of the term "septic tank", and that rhymes with "yank", which is an old-fashioned Brit word to mean any American, not just a Yankie. Its not so much a dialect but an informal code. It evolved to allow for illicit conversation to be overheard but not understood.
Interestingly, the British dictionary says “skirt(ing) board is chiefly US & Canadian and that baseboard is an Americanism going back to the 1850s. As for dry wall, it’s also called sheet rock and gyp board (for gypsum, which it’s made from) in the US, depending on what region you’re from. All the heterogeneity of terms is fading fast as larger sales corporations by necessity settle on a particular word, and as the internet is funneling us all toward homogeneity, too.
I've always known them as skirting boards, and I'm in Yorkshire! I'm in an old (1892) red brick terrace, and all the skirting boards are a few mm from the floor. I assumed it was primarily for tucking the edge of your carpet under...
In the Early Internet Days, it was the handy place to hide all the telephone cabling that you needed to lay between the hallway phone port and whichever room you'd set up your boxy computer monitor. :)
The gap is fine and will give a little space for expanding and contracting. Just throw a bead of silicone in if it bothers you out maybe a small trimming to conver it.
You’ve gotten plenty of answers on the gap, but FWIW, those floors aren’t laminate. They look to be an engineered hardwood, possibly a maple veneer. You should consider having the floor refinished and stained to a color you prefer rather than replacing it. That’s a high quality floor, and while it won’t have the same thickness of actual wood (maybe 1/4-5/16 inch) for refinishing, these floors can usually be refinished 1-3 times during their lifetime if the gouges aren’t too deep and depending on the thickness of the veneer.
Came to say this too. OP, do not replace those floors. They cost far more than whatever you’re planning to put in. Refinish them if you don’t like the color.
How can you identify these floors? What feature stands out to you that they are engineered? I'm hoping to learn your powers.
You can tell they’re not solid hardwood (or solid softwood) because they’re installed in obvious sections of three planks wide. That would be typical of a laminate, however that is also common for an engineered wood plank as well. I believe it is engineered wood and not laminate because of the way the scuffing and wear and tear looks. With laminate, some of those deeper scuffs wouldn’t show wood underneath the way these do. You would also see some more peeling along the edges and corners of each panel if this were a laminate floor with the amount of wear and tear on it. This is what leads me to believe it is engineered wood.
Picture one definitely gives away the manufactured sections of floor. You are right. Picture 3 shows where the radiator bolts/goes through the floor. You can definitely tell that it’s not like hardwood individual board flooring like tongue n groove. Picture 4 shows how for lack of better term, sloppy, they cut through the baseboard for the radiator line. I really feel like if the floors were individual boards, they would look similar for drilling/mounting. I have laminate flooring and mine is a lot more shiny and fake looking too lol. I also feel like thinking the floor is cheap, in your warehouse apartment with old radiator heaters, is a bit of misplaced concern. lol
I worked in a flooring company. The easiest way to tell in person is to feel any knots in the wood. Laminate is basically just a printed on pattern, so the knots would feel smooth just like the rest of the board. An engineered or Solid wood floor you would feel the rough texture of the knot. With these floors, you can tell by the wear and tear. Those scratches that you can see will only really happen to engineered or Solid wood, laminate will develop more like markings or cracks
Flooring sales rep here. For this particular picture, you’re right on the money for the wear and tear piece. That said, what you mentioned about feeling the knots is no longer true. LVP and laminate both come with different levels of embossing now, the top level known as “Embossed In Register” meaning they will create texturing to match the graining, so you’ll actually feel what you see. The cheapest ones don’t have it but anything worth buying does.
Can confirm. Our recently installed LVP has real wood texture and knots but is LVP. Also not shiny.
Some of those floors look historic and show old damage. They have pieced in new wood as needed.
No. Three planks wide everywhere. It’s engineered wood. If engineered wood is “prehistoric,” I’m Gilgamesh
You’re right, I didn’t look close enough at the pattern. I also said historic, not prehistoric. I review tax credits for historic buildings, and I see a lot of old factories being repurposed as housing, and when I looked quickly at it and saw the existing damage, I was thinking the odd cuts were because there was old wood that they mixed in with new.
Also looks to be white oak.
See how there’s a seam every three planks where three rows end at the same spot? Thats because the laminate planks have three rows of boards on them. Each laminate plank is somewhere around 9”x48”. If this was solid wood flooring not one row of flooring would end right next to another rows end. With solid wood flooring you get a bunch of random sizes and the installer makes sure none of the ends line up with another or are even close. You don’t even want ends to line up with another a few rows away.
Depending on the engineered flooring of course. I’m installing 1500sqft another flooring company sold the customer with the promise it can be sanded and finished a few times as well, but the wear-layer is literally wafer thin and absolutely CANNOT be sanded. Maybe refinished with a light buff and coat. The stain will often penetrate the entire wear layer to the point you can’t sand it clean without going through. It’s a joke that these companies make these promises but refinishing is my bread and butter, and I don’t see how it can be done. I even have a Bona multidisc that was advertised to us as great for these floors but it’s often not. There ARE engineered options that can be sanded, but it’s risky to assume without seeing a cross section.
You’re right, the wear layer could be very thin, however it does seem based on some of the deeper gouges/scratches that there is a solid amount of wood there in the veneer. Of course, as you say, it’s impossible to know without getting up close and personal. I’m only trying to give OP a heads up to consider refinishing since it may be possible depending on the product used.
This person floors. Our house had gorgeous engineered hardwood when we bought it. We knew from the plank size it was engineered, not “real”, but we thought it would be ok. The wear layer can’t be more than 2mm. Ten years later, high traffic areas you can almost see the non-veneer wood. Garbage product.
I'm going to add on to this. You can rent a floor drum sander plus an edge disk sander, and buy the cheap, cheap tools needed to varnish the floor. All in, you can probably refinish this floor yourself for 50p per square foot or less. It's also one of the easiest renovations you can do; nearly as easy as painting the walls. After the floor's refinished, you can nail some quarter round at the gap to hide it, which is common to the point of ubiquity in North America at least.
Remember though, you’re suggesting this to someone who thought this floor was laminate. Probably not the best idea for them to take this on as a do it yourself job.
Yeah, not the place to start DIYing.
Engineered hardwood floors with a veneer are not generally able to be refinished. “Veneer” means “thin layer”. They’re pressed boards (like a laminate) with a thin hardwood layer on top (vs a printed layer and wear layer that laminate has). They’re *generally* the cheapest option you can put down and still call it “hardwood” without actually putting down 3/4” hardwood or a laminate that will actually last. To cover the gap, just put down quarter round to hide it and not impede the floor’s ability to expand and contract.
I bought quite expensive pre finished engineered hardwood in my last house. It had a 4mm veneer "wear layer," so it could be refinished several times. Bottom was 4mm of same hardwood, and the rest was filleted hardwood with grain perpendicular to the veneer grain. It costs similar to real hardwood but is more dimensionally stable so it does not expand and contract to the same extent. Can also get wider boards. Engineered hardwood is not always cheap.
So to refinish a hardwood floor, you usually need to be able to take off 1/8”. 4mm is .15”. 1/8” is .12”. You get *maybe* one refinish out of that if you know what you’re doing. Take off too much and you hit ugly pressed boards and ruin your floor all together. There is a possibility that people have different definitions of “engineered hardwood” though, so grain of salt. To me, it’s a pressed board (usually click lock), with a wood veneer. But there can definitely be different definitions. And when I said “wear layer” I was talking a literal layer to protect the floor itself. It’s not the color on the floor. It’s the scratch protection and water protection (which engineered does not come with, due to it being a wood veneer, though the stain does provide some “water resistance”). 🤷🏻♀️ I just sell the stuff.
This doesn’t really matter since they are planning on changing the layout, all the floors would have to go anyway - if you are moving walls it’s not worth it to patch and match with that floor. In Europe that floor is the cheapest type of engineered hardwood (it’s oak btw) and it doesn’t really look like a high quality floor. OP, this doesn’t say anything about the quality of the structure.
Don’t mind the gap.
This must be hell for a Brit.
Only for Terry Thomas.
What about Thomas the Toy Train?
My bigger concern is if something spills and gets behind there.
I have an old house. Our kitchen floor has quarter inch gaps between EACH FLOORBOARD. Stuff spills in it all the time. If it’s horrible a shopvac handles it. If it’s not I just ignore it. Is it great? No! Is it the end of the world? Not at all.
Yeah my gaps are huge too lol
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F**k you, Shorsey!
LoL @ /unexpectedletterkenny
Give yer balls a tug
Gaps in our 100 year old floor too. My son spilled milk and I thought I cleaned it all up, only to find a pool of milk in the basement the next day!
As long as it’s wood and not manufactured it’s all good dry it up just like everyone else. It will dry faster that way actually. More air flow
My biggest concern would be for what could come crawling out of there 🐜🕷️🪳🐞🪲
I am about to buy a new(used) house and I am going to to seal it really well, no bugs thank you very much.
I see your point; at the same time I feel if you seal the bottom they (whatever they are) will then crawl out the top and fall on my head while I'm sleeping.
Well even if the base is sitting right on the floor it sure isn't going to be waterproof. OP could add a shoe moulding if they would like the gap covered.
Caulk it..... This is from the floors being sanded and the trim not being replaced or lowered. So now there is a gap because the floor is lower then the edging behind the base boards. You caulk this.
I was thinking it could have been carpeted at one point and the baseboards were never lowered after the carpet was removed. Seems like some quarter round would do better than caulk?
Quarter round would absolutely be better. I’ve just lived in an infested apartment and I sealed my unit with caulk everywhere. Including taking the quarter rounds off sealing the gap between the wall and the base boards and putting the quarter rounds back. Give no crevice for food dirt or bugs.
Do not caulk it, it’ll look like shit
Happy caulk day!
Quarter round trim
Unless they took each individual board out to sand it, this is not what happened.
This deserves more up votes
Happy Cake Day!
Happy cake day!
Lolz, didn’t realize it’s mine too!! 🤣
The infamous double cake day
How about a triple?
This guy gaps
Gap is fine. Also looks like real wood flooring to me
Gap isn’t a huge issue, but the floors obviously aren’t level. If OP happens to value a level floor over the floor material, he would have to take this up and level the floor (very time consuming but not difficult). I suppose there’s he option to lay down the same floor he took up if he’s meticulous and it isn’t otherwise attached to the subfloor
Well, it's an old warehouse, so the floors I imagine are far from flat/level? the baseboard *should* have been scribed to the floor, but someone trimming out a ton of places doesn't have time for that.
This is the correct answer. You can add some quarter round or shoe moulding to cover the gap if it really bothers you.
Shoe molding. For the love of god, shoe molding.
Why shoe molding? We wanted to put the locking vinyl planks and my grandpa said to hide the gaps we would have to put quarter round on all the trim. Quick google search shows shoe round is slimmer and taller?
Yes. It’s not nearly so clunky looking. Quarter round looks like you made a mistake. And then you just gave up.
Truth in advertising
I like quarter round better myself. Preference really imo.
Tbh it's 6 of one half dozen of the other. You're the only person that will ever know which it is. Nobody else is looking
It usually is a finished ¼" × ¾" or ⅞"
Both shoe molding and quarter round look shitty to me. For gaps like OP has where the flooring goes under the trim there I would much rather put some tape down and fill the gap with some paintable caulk. Would look much cleaner. Shoe/quarter round is for when someone is lazy putting new flooring down
Will look ok for a while but caulk will pull away from the flooring as it expands and contracts with the seasons though.
Caulk is okay if the base is scribed and not real wood. Otherwise, in my experience, it tends to crack eventually. It is pretty easy to touch up though.
Yes but nail it to the baseboard not the floor.
This is the way
IT would help with air infiltration, pest infiltration, and odor infiltration and If there were a flood, it would slow the water infiltration somewhat. And it would look a hella lot better.
Pests sure, but if you’re expecting shoe molding to slow a flood….idk, you’ve got bigger problems
It might give you a couple of extra minutes to freak out. But Hey, better than not.
This looks like a flat in a high-rise building, no?
Yea, it's definitely not a first floor space.
>And it would look a hella lot better. YMMV. I think quarter round makes any project look like a hack job.
IT? They’re no help all they tell you is to turn it off and on again
Is it still quarter round in metric?
"Royale round"
Avec fromage
25p round
Post conversation it could have had carpet at one time. Tack some 3/4” quarter round (or closest metric equiv) at the bottom and call it good.
Pic 1, I could agree with the carpet idea, but 2 and 3 show the floor is a rolling sea.
Old structures need quarter round or similar on baseboards to remove obvious unlevelness. You learn to live with carpenter squares being the only 90degree angle in the house!
On that last note - I live in a 130-year-old folk victorian house. Someone bought me corner shelves. Unfortunately, most of the wall junctions are not 90 degrees, so I can't put them anywhere helpful.
I can't even use a level in my house or it will look crooked.
I dunno. Quarter round looks so bad and old fashioned. (I have it in my house). Usually now they like the flat look. The only thing you can really do is scribe the waviness and cut to match. It takes time but it will look good in the end.
They need to be scribed properly in the first place by somebody who isn't a lazy hack. Stuff all houses have perfectly level floors.
Is that single glazing? I would be more worried about that.
To me it appears to just be very thin double glazing. Temperature of the place was ok given it’s quite exposed and the heating has been off for some months.
What was the energy rating like for the place? It's all fun and games until you have to pay out the nose for heating. To be fair, just finding an okay place in London is hard.
EPC rating is B.
Surprisingly, not bad, I guess it's all fully insulated, so the old double glazing shouldn't matter too much.
Strangely he’s getting it re-rated. Do you think it’s possible this EPC was from before changes to the rankings?
Odd. I've heard of buyers / banks wanting new ratings. Not the person selling it.
What does the cross section of the wall look like? Has modern insulation been added on the outside of the brickwork or possibly in the cavity between the two layers of brickwork? https://fet.uwe.ac.uk/conweb/house_ages/elements/print.htm
Windows is one thing, the walls aren’t typically well insulated in warehouses
Don’t worry about it, it was just someone who took the easiest way out but it’s not unsound or in anyway bad except potentially aesthetically annoying. I also think you’ll never notice it once you have furniture in there.
Last sentence rings true for most projects. You’ll notice little things like that until the room is filled with stuff.
If you’re worried about this gap, maybe a warehouse conversion isn’t right for you.
It looks like an older building that has been renovated into flats? In these situations, there is no such thing as level, plumb, or flush. It's not a problem.
Quarter round the bottom and it will look like new
Don't destroy that beautiful baseboard with quarter round.
But then you have quarter round.
It'll look like shit. It's an old gaff, gaps are fine.
Put some shoe molding over the gap this is not a big deal.
You are far to picky It's a conversion of an old property, the floors are not going to be perfectly level.
You should be worried Only if you can see daylight through the gap
If you are worried about trim maybe buying an old building isn't for you
Yeah I bought an old house. From the 20s. Of course the foundation has settled and will continue for the life of the home. That’s the next idiots problem.
Yeah I have had several people in my life complain about shit like this but can't afford new so they proceed to say why their old house is a piece of shit because it is not perfectly square... That is part of owning a old house my man....
That’s just the floor being uneven. This is why they sell quarter round.
Those gaps are a problem. That's where the snakes and black ooze get into your apartment at night while you're sleeping and eat your tortilla chips.
Maybe I’ll put in a lower offer then
Baseboards aren't functional. It is likely that there was carpet or something else, and they replaced with floating laminate or vinyl which is much thinner and never redid baseboards. This is pretty common, though still a little cheap/lazy. Most people who do this just add corner round on top of the baseboards. If you do add corner round and it IS a floating floor, make sure you only shoot the corner round into the baseboard and not the floor. the floors have expansion and could buckle.
Yes, just finished a remodel and replaced original carpet with laminate flooring and it left a gap. So it was either do quarter round or move the baseboards down 1/2 inch. I moved the baseboards down. And then the place where the walls met the baseboards originally had years of paint that stopped at that point, and it was raised there and looked awful, Needed to be sanded/scraped. No way. Too much work. So I moved the baseboards back to their original spot and live with the gap. I’m pretty OCD and it bothered me for a bit, but compared to all that worK OR adding crappy quarter round, I can live with it.
Moving the baseboards down really only works if your floor is flat. For the best look if your floors aren't completely flat, you should scribe the floor onto the baseboard and cut it so it's perfectly in line with the floor. It's actually a fairly simple process with a tablesaw and access to youtube.
This is exactly what I’ve seen. A covering was removed and they didn’t bother redoing the baseboard. We could cover it with quarter round.
bare walls?? that'll be f'all good in winter... as for the gaps, they're for the spiders, they need a home too.
I believe those gaps are there intentionally to allow the floor to expand and contract without damaging the trim, but I could be wrong
100% correct.
Flooring guy here: completely normal. That's why quarterround goes on after the baseboard - to hide the small variations in the floor.
How nice, they left you a chase for the network cables and extension cords. In agreement with others, I bet they did the trim before the floor. My house looks like this after going from carpet to fake wood.
I live in a converted warehouse and I have a similar gap. You should see if there is a gap behind the drywall skirting, especially following where the gas, electricity, and plumbing lines go. Often those lines have gaps all the way to the ground floor or basement, which can let in pests (mice, rats).
I'm living in a house that is only 4 years old. Our wall skirting looks exactly like that. Here it is because the skirting was applied way before the floor screed had enough time to settle. The whole floor in the house sunk a good centimeter since we've moved in and has now settled. We don't care much as we're only tenants. Our landlord is informed, but doesn't care much either. It's a purely esthetical issue and it doesn't bother us enough in order to have the workmen in the house for a couple days, move all the furniture and make a huge mess to correct it.
r/DIYUK
I’m surprised no one has said to just use caulking or silicone to fill the gap. This would essentially remove it completely, without you making any massive changes (re-molding). You could even talk to the owner/landlord(s) and see if they would get it done.
"Do these gaps tell us something about the overall structure?" Yes. It means that the floor isn't level. This can be due to a few reasons, wood subfloor is wavy, (if you have real wood floors) natural movement of wood floors, building foundation shifting causing buckling. To be honest, it's probably because your floor isn't level. Nothing wrong with that, it happens in lots of old buildings and considering you said it was an old warehouse, I'd say it's fine. "Or are they just shoddy craftsmanship?" Meh. Depends on where you are in the world and what you expect for the money? Whoever was hired may not have been paid sufficiently to perform the BEST work possible. For example, assuming the floor was wavy, you'd have to either: Method 1 - THE PROPER WAY 1 - Prepare the subfloor, and waterproof (foam) between non-ground level floors. 2 - If working on concrete, then a scarifier might be used. 3a - Put down new subfloor, of install concrete board should you want to pour all new flooring. Depends on if you want the sound isolation, or if you're trying to do the basement. 3b - After the floor is sealed, you would pour floor leveler. It's a thin concrete "paste" which can be poured on the entire floor, or just in low spots of the floor. 4 - Once the floor is leveled, now you can install your new engineered wood, vinyl, or tile. 5 - Install baseboard on your very flat floor and not have to worry about gaps. Method 2 - The Bandaid 1 - You could actually scribe all the baseboards. That means sanding and cutting baseboards to the natural wave of the floor. This will result in a very nice finish, but may not be a good long term solution should the floor shift or naturally shrink and expand with the season. Many floors require some gap at the baseboard to allow the flooring to naturally "shift." 2 - Baseboard can also be quite flexible, in some cases you can push the baseboard down to match the curve of the floor. Method 3 - Everything is fine with caulk. 1 - Take some big stretch silicon-esque caulking to fill the gap at the bottom. This will seal the gap to give you a finished look, but allow the floor to move. You could also use wood filler, bondo, or mud, however due to transitions at plane, caulk is the best for filling that gap. 2 - After the caulking, you'd need to re-gloss paint the baseboard to avoid the "cheap" caulking look. Also, caulking likes to shrink back which means backer rod might be needed to make the baseboard look flush. Method 4 - What you have. 1 - Baseboards have been installed to a laser leveled line, and whatever waves in the floor are what you have. Not enough money to caulk, not enough money to scribe, not enough money to re-do the floor, not enough information to understand what the problem might be, SOOOOOO, install "level" and the gap is the gap, but allows for the floor shifting. I wouldn't call it "shoddy" work, but probably lack of funds to do a proper job.
Your best bet is to use a 1/4 round molding around to make up the difference. Floors settle over time, especially when they have heavy items on them for long periods. Go around the gaps and find the widest gap. Then head to your local big box store and get 1/4 round molding that is at least 1.5 times that gap. Paint it the same color as the other molding. You can tack it into place with headless nails every 2 to 3 feet, and then fill the nail holes with paste or caulk of the same color.
Use quarter round trim.
Not even a little bit. As stuff gets old it settles. New stuff gets added. You can only bend the base trim so far down. It’s all good.
If this was NY, I'd tell you that those gaps = pest city.
Likely an unlevel floor. It's very common. Especially if it's an old warehouse. Add quarter round to cover it or if replacing flooring make sure you use leveling compound.
I think I recognise the building and the area. If it is the one I think it is run the building owner is useless borderline criminal. And even if it's only similar those single glazed windows will be incredibly draughty and cold.
They are neither an indication of something wrong nor of shoddy workmanship. Older buildings have character (imperfect floors, etc.). Baseboard is rigid and is to be installed in a level line. That is why shoe mold is installed. It has flexibility to follow the contours of the floor.
If it truly bothers you, get some quarter round to cover the gap.
You can use quarter round trim to cover it up.
I see straight trim boards, and uneven settling which is 100% normal
Caulking hides all the sins.
Nothing a little quarter round molding couldn’t fix
That’s what shoe molding is for
Whats all this bruv? Just put some quarter round down
Just add base molding. The previous owner must have removed carpet or something to show original flooring.
I wouldn’t fill the gap - I live in a mill conversion and was told we have floating skirting boards as the building ‘moves’. They did cheap out so this could be BS, however in the bathroom in mine there was sealant in the gap which now is not attached. Annoyingly the floor shakes when a washing machine is on spin in a nearby flat though.
I would give my left something for this place. Throw some quarter round down (or don't) and enjoy
That's literally what shoe molding is for. https://preview.redd.it/ajg2d016vz4c1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eaecbe27d92374cad559686b91bd612882ffd3a8
Put some quarter round shoe molding down. Also, why would lament have so many defects? Looks like original flooring to me.
It happens especially with renovations they subfloor is no longer level and if the baseboard is mounted flush to the floor the top of the baseboard will look crooked as hell. Behind the gap is sheetrock. Doesn't look great but it depends on the price too
Just put in quarter round trim.
Could always put a bead board down, no room is perfectly square.
No. They replaced the floor at some point. No big deal. **before purchasing any property. HIRE A GOOD INSPECTOR.**
Looking a pic 3+4 I'd be more worried about your heating bill.
The gap is fine. How a wall is made: (one of the ways) put a 2x4 on the floor, nail it in place. Put a 2x4 on the ceiling, nail it there. Put some vertical 2x4 at 12/16/24" and nail it there. and this is where it get interessing: drywall the ceiling, then cut the drywall for the walls with a small gap, you don't want it compress when the wood change length due to drying and all. So what do you do with that gap? You lift the sheet to the ceiling and screw it there, leaving the gap at the bottom. It will be only about 1/4-1/2" so still on the floor 2x4. So, the drywall is well fastened, suspended on the wall. The structural part (the 2x4) are strongly in place with no gap. And this is where the magic happen: normally, the baseboard installer will follow the floor to eliminate the gap. This one did not. It look bad, but it is not an issue.
No
No. They didn’t install quarter round.
Late reply OP but that gap is functional, it allows the flooring to slide underneath as it expands/contracts in changing temperatures. Normally it’s only a couple mm but given the type of property, you will get some variation. Also that’s either hardwood or engineered wood flooring. Do not get rid of it, stain it another colour.
Those aren't just baseboards (skirting boards in the UK), which even in stately homes don't run that thick. You can see they've actually boxed in mains electric and possibly plumbing as well rather than run them under the floor and chase them into the wall. Likely to avoid lifting the floor. For a property that's been converted I think it'd be worth having a building survey done rather than just a homebuyer's report (but I wouldn't go full structural survery).
I have the exact same thing with my engineered wood floor. It’s normal
"drywall skirting" 😂😂
What should concern you the most is the gas bills for that place as there seems to be no insulation. As for the floor... A carpet would hide the gap. It looks like that that is not just skirting but a box to hide the heating pipes and the power lines
Probably a gap from stripping out carpeting.
Not a concern, not an indication of a problem. Concrete floors are never perfectly flat and wood doesn't bend easily. The floor is likely thin vinyl or laminate. Vinyl plank is a good quality product that is durable and waterproof. It settles into the contours of the existing floor and these gaps will show. This is not shoddy craftsmanship. It's nearly unavoidable over concrete, and vinyl is your best option in this case
You are getting lots of advice but here is more — this is pretty normal over time. Wood shrinks and swells and as a result this gap may occur. Ideally in new construction it isn’t there but over time this is just what happens with real wood. You should never caulk this gap. That prevents the natural movement of the wood which can cause other issues for you later.
That’s what shoe is for
This probably had carpet installed at one point. All you need to do is install quarter round trim ( 1/4 of a circle) to fit over the gap and it'll look perfect! Did it to my house when I bought it. Although, if you are installing it yourself, just make sure you measure the gap height, use the right kind of nails (Brad nailer), and I would prestain or prepaint before installing.
Just trim it with some quad or something
That ain't laminate. They will come up beautifully. Get a decent festool sander. Start with a coarse grit sand paper and work up to a fine grit paper. Then stain with a good quality oil. It will look like new. Get some beading to cover up those gaps.
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No, nothing to be worried about. Molding can be enhanced with some simple quarter-round added to close the gap.
If you want that gap closed why are purchasing a warehouse conversion property ??
Why do people hate quarter round lol
Because it looks worse than the 'problem' it's trying to hide.
Your baseboards are higher because there probably had a carpet on the floor, and was removed, that when the gap comes from
Professional floor refinisher here.. The unevenness of the floor could be a problem with the foundation or shifts in the slab. You need an inspector to check it out. The wood floor is an engineered oak floor. They call this 3-strip, you get 3 strips on each plank. Usually with these you can finish them at least twice before the top layer is worn through. This floor looks like it could be sanded, no way of telling unless you check the thickness from the side. If there are no problems with the subfloor, to covert the gap i would do as follows: 1. Fill the gap with silicone. 2. Install white vinyl quarter round 3. Caulk and paint 4. If there's still a gap under the wuarter round fill that with white silicone
Never heard of baseboards being called "drywall skirting". Is that a british thing or a made-up thing?
We call them skirting boards not baseboards and we call drywall plaster board. Source: British. I imagine it’s a septic making this post hence the mix of correct and incorrect English.
Septic, lol.
Yeah, what’s with septic? And if that’s a typo for skeptic, I also don’t follow
It's (London) Cockney rhyming slang. Septic is the first half of the term "septic tank", and that rhymes with "yank", which is an old-fashioned Brit word to mean any American, not just a Yankie. Its not so much a dialect but an informal code. It evolved to allow for illicit conversation to be overheard but not understood.
Interestingly, the British dictionary says “skirt(ing) board is chiefly US & Canadian and that baseboard is an Americanism going back to the 1850s. As for dry wall, it’s also called sheet rock and gyp board (for gypsum, which it’s made from) in the US, depending on what region you’re from. All the heterogeneity of terms is fading fast as larger sales corporations by necessity settle on a particular word, and as the internet is funneling us all toward homogeneity, too.
We call them skirting boards in Australia too.
I've always known them as skirting boards, and I'm in Yorkshire! I'm in an old (1892) red brick terrace, and all the skirting boards are a few mm from the floor. I assumed it was primarily for tucking the edge of your carpet under...
My house is from the 1950s and same gap. Default in my area at that time was carpet over hardwood then baseboards.
In the Early Internet Days, it was the handy place to hide all the telephone cabling that you needed to lay between the hallway phone port and whichever room you'd set up your boxy computer monitor. :)
 Might be a handy place to put the edge of carpet.
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This is why God made quarter rounds.
The gap is fine and will give a little space for expanding and contracting. Just throw a bead of silicone in if it bothers you out maybe a small trimming to conver it.
Was there thick carpet installed in the past and then removed and replaced with hardwood? That would explain the gap.
Caulk it if it bothers you.
No. Shoe moulding or quarter round.
Why not caulk
Don't this this, wood floors need to expand and contract throughout the year
he'll need a thick caulk to fill that gash