Disappointed with skirting board finish

bpk101

My builder is making good a few rooms as we near the end of a Victorian Terrace refurb and I’m a bit disappointed with the way skirting boards have been fitted in certain areas.

The problem is we have original wood flooring which are uneven (in fact all walls are uneven too!), we like the original / non-perfect look of the boards and don't want them replaced but the joiner has attempted to follow this unevenness with the skirting to minimise gaps between the floorboard and skirting. However… this becomes really noticeable when it runs beneath perfectly level radiators:

http://bpkersey.com/images/skirting2.jpg

http://bpkersey.com/images/skirting1.jpg

He’s advised if he was to run a single piece of skirting along this wall – spirit-level straight – we’d end up with a gap at the far end of about 5mm between skirting and floorboard (and of course the 2 bits of skirting wouldn’t meet perfectly at the corner either).

Am i being too critical or is there a better way he could have approached this?? We don't want to lose the character of the place but if we're paying for a rebuff i want it to look finished properly.

casper_g

It's probably more obvious in the picture because of the colour difference between the white primed skirting and the filler used at the join. Once painted this won't be so obvious. In terms of the fact the skirting follows the floor rather than being parallel to the radiator, I think that's probably the least bad option. The alternative - top of skirting not parallel to floor - would look worse IMHO.

Have you thought about what colour scheme you will use? A strong contrast between the skirting and wall and the wall and radiator will make this jump out at you. At the other extreme, it will be much more forgiving if all three are similar colours or the same colour.

bpk101

casper_g wrote: »

Have you thought about what colour scheme you will use?

I think we're going for a scheme like this (but with white floorboards not grey)... so light-mid grey walls / white woodwork and floors / white rad:



We'd intentionally hung the radiators 8mm clear of the skirting as i'm not a fan of when the two cross over, but in hindsight...

casper_g

8mm? Looks more like 80mm / 8cm. To be honest, I think it will look fine when it's all finished. You won't stand looking at the radiator when the room is finished and furnished.

bpk101

Sorry... 8cm yes. The radiators (and valves) were my little luxury so i was hoping to admire them from far, that wonky bit of skirting underneath bugs me though but i guess i'll have to live with it.

I suppose i just want to make sure my carpenter hasn't cheated me with a quick fix?!

casper_g

They are very nice looking radiators!

arbrighton

our floors are far from level but new skirting was fitted level and we're caulking the gaps (some are almost stick your finger in!) then painting over

StuC75

ought to have scribed the bottom of the skirting board, so that the top would have stayed level and the bottom of each piece would follow the undulations of the floor, though that would have taken a lot longer to fit..

Its not the case of the carpenter cheating you , its how high a level of finish that you are prepared to pay for, and when complete, what could and would be notice ...

Its an old house, and as you say some of those quirks could never be worked out of it..

Doozergirl

What Stu says about scribing, but I would have hung the radiator lower if the budget is small.

Are those radiator valves thermostatic? Did you choose them? I'm getting quite a strong feeling of style over substance about this project. The plumber hid the pipes in the walls for you as well?

Have you prepped the plumbing and electrics for the loft conversion or are you just going to wait for the tradespeople to rip up your walls again?

bpk101

Doozergirl wrote: »

Are those radiator valves thermostatic? Did you choose them? I'm getting quite a strong feeling of style over substance about this project. The plumber hid the pipes in the walls for you as well?

Have you prepped the plumbing and electrics for the loft conversion or are you just going to wait for the tradespeople to rip up your walls again?

Yes they are TRVs and yes we chose them. They are corner valves as we prefer the look of wall mounted rads and had pipewrork run into the walls (pipes felt lagged before walls were rendered BYA).

Yes we've prepped plumbing and electrics for future loft conversion, feeds have been run up there...

Style, yes it's important to us but so is substance so we're trying to find the right balance here. It's our first house and we want to be happy with it.

casper_g

StuC75 wrote: »

ought to have scribed the bottom of the skirting board, so that the top would have stayed level and the bottom of each piece would follow the undulations of the floor

Really? I know it could be done that way, but I'd have thought the variation in the height of the skirting would look much worse than the way it's been done - especially if the floor and skirting were different colours and finishes. At the end of the day though, it's a question of aesthetics and there's no objective right way of doing it!