Look under my skirt(ing)

[jonnyhoar]

Sorry for that.

I've just taken away the skirting in the bedroom of my new flat, planning to put some new skirting up. However, underneath, the plaster doesn't go right down to the floor, leaving a recess beneath the coving, then the exterior wall. It seems a bit damp down there too - it's a sub ground level flat but the damp was checked out by surveyors before we moved and the damp coarses were OK'd.

So, the question is: do I need to fill in the gap and ensure the plaster runs right down to the floor? If so, what do I do this with? And also, should I be worrying about the suspicions of damp and what can I do about it? (apart from getting the professionals in)

Thanks.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong cause I'm not a plasterer/nor builder, but...
I've always thought that what you have found is the normal state of things: creating a moister barrier between wall and floor (plaster and concrete/screed).
If you would fill up the gap moist form floor can travel up to into the plaster and viceversa.

I'm sure you will get better answers.

 

[pieman]

Absolutely normal detail for plaster to stop short of the floor behind skirting. Not quite sure whate you are meaning by coving here.

The damp question is fraught with difficulty and unknowns - what is the structure and tanking of the basement? is it insulated? where? is the land outside drained properly ? how old is the flat or conversion? etc.

In the spirit of eliminating the easiest first: It maybe that the damp is caused by condensation: with the skirting in place, there is a small cold cavity behind the skirting. The skirting will tend to keep the nice warm air out of this little cavity, but the moisture in the air will find its way through, and condense on the cold surface.
Can you leave the skirting off a week or two and see if it gets any drier? (with the skirting off, warm air will circulate in the cavity, and tend to dry the surfaces, and warm them preventing more condensation.) If It does dry out, then there's probably not too much to worry about, except it may be worth using decorator's caulking when you put the skirting back, to seal top and bottom, and keep more of the moisture from the warm humid air in which we all live, out of the cavity.

Most older buildings tend to have a little damp here and there. The real problem is if it causes mould, rot etc.

If it stays damp, then if it is causing mould etc. or bothering you, you may have to look deeper. A protometer (damp meter) will help you identify if the walls or floor are damp and where. Otherwise, some professional advice.

Solutions to damp basements tend to be major undertakings. If it looks like this is necessary, then you might ( and only 'might') have recourse against the surveyor-e.g if they couldn't detect the damp without damaging the skirtings, decorations etc. then they couldn't be held responsible, I suspect.

good luck

pie

 

[jonnyhoar]

Many thanks to both of you...
I'm glad I couldn't find the bonding we were about to wadge in there. It does seem to have dried off a bit in the couple of days since the skirting came off so fingers-crossed we're OK.

Can I try my luck with a follow-up question for the same room? The plasters obviously very old and is pretty rough in a lot of places (paint and plaster defects). What's best practice to get a good painting surface? Scrape and polyfilla or lining paper?

Cheers

 

[Thermo]

lining paper will give you a good surface, if its quite bad use 1400 guage paper to help cover. A bit of elbow grease and sandpaper and filler will also produce good results

 

[jonnyhoar]

Polycell seem to do a product called 'SmoothOver Cracked & Damaged Walls' Any ideas if this is a) any good? and b) actually anything much different to a normal filler?

There's also supposed to be one especially for covering stuff like woodchip and artex but, again, I wonder if it's anything special or just clever packaging...