Fill gap underneath skirting?

[MankyManning]

I am redecorating my living room and am probably going to sand the floorboards as they are in quite good nick really, there used to be carpet down.

The only slight problem is that under certain sections of skirting board there is a slight gap between skirting and floorboards (up to 5mm in some places, other places there is no gap). This would not normally bother me but my wife **hates** spiders and wants this gap to be blocked up.

Now I don't have the time to remove all the skirting and refit it so I was wondering if there was an alternative?

Perhaps a thin strip of cork which could be wedged in all along where the gap is, should look okay and being cork should squeeze in nicely. Has anyone heard of doing something like this is does it sound complete madness? Any ideas where I could buy some cork like that if it sounds an okay idea?

Thanks.

[dom]

Hardboard or plywood strips, but I doubt it'll make the slightest difference to the spiders.

[.]

squirt a /small/ amount of builders foam into the gap and trim it back with a craft knife ? decorators caulk ? gap filling adhesive ?

[EricP]

If you are going to paint the skirting, some plaster would be what I would use, on the grounds that it's cheap and easy to apply, but mainly because it can be removed easily. The foam/adhesive approach will weld the skirting to the floorboards, I have had to remove lengths that had been done this way. The skirting was scrap and had to be replaced.

[Mike Barnes]

Transparent sealant. Worked here, against draughts rather than spiders. It's not invisible but I doubt anyone's ever noticed it.

[Christian McArdle]

However, there is an additional advantage to removing the skirting, so you should consider it. If you remove the skirting before sanding, it will be much better to the edge, as you will be stopping 2cm beyond the end, rather than a couple of mm before it, which will provide a nicer finish. You also get to replace the skirting with new wood, so you don't have x years of high gloss s**nk on it.

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If the skirting is painted, use decorators caulk, if stained, get a colored mastic..frame sealant.

Clean of excess caulk with water, and frame sealant possibly white spirit.

[Stuart]

You could also consider quadrant moulding either painted to match the skirting or varnished to match the floor ....Seal the gap first before fitting it ..

Stuart

[fred]

I found that caulk didn't have the necessary flex to cope with the movement in my old house so I used translucent acrylic sealant which has enough flex and can be left bare or painted as desired. The one I used was B&Q All Purpose Sealant (Translucent), I wouldn't normally give them an ad but after trying a few it was the best I could find but was as overpriced as you would expect.