DIYbanter - View Single Post

Chris Green

wrote:
I've just spent half a day ****ing around with the router to get a 3m length
of kitchen unit kickboard fitting reasonably tidily on a quite uneven floor.
The floor doesn't look that uneven, but when you put a long, straight edge
on it, lumps and hollows everywhere. The unmolested board was touching
floor at each end and floating in air in the middle. Trimming the ends,
the touch points of the kickboard moved to various points along its length;
trim those and same again.

So, my question is: is there a better way to do it than rough measurements,
followed by many iterations of fine adjustment, to get best fit? Against
a hard surface (which this was), a kickboard or skirting board with completely
faithful reproduction of the contours of the floor can look naff, drawing
the eye to the unevenness. The trick seems to be to go some way to accommodating
the ups and downs, but accepting that gaps between floor and board might
be unavoidable for best overall appearance.

I'm aware of bendy profile strips that can be used to reproduce uneven
surfaces, but I don't think that one of these would have helped over a
3m length.

What do pros do?

Well I wouldn't be using a router to do it.

I'd use my belt sander for this sort of thing, quicker and easier for
this sort of thing than a router and, of its nature will produce the
sort of gradual 'out of straightness' that you're after.

I think I'd put the skirting in place, mark vaguely with a pencil,
sand some and then repeat a few times until happy with the result.

Then, if really fussy, I'd use filler on the last few cracks.

--
Chris Green
·