Are you dreading the school holidays? Keep the kids busy sealing floorboard gaps.

Posted on Sunday 20th March 2016 by Bettie

For those of you out there with kids, the prospect of the school holidays can be daunting. You have to keep them entertained while also making sure you’re on top the housework and as well as that, there’s DIY to be done. How on earth can you do it all? If you have found your stripped original wood floors have been a draughty nuisance in the cold weather, one of those DIY jobs may well be sealing floorboard gaps. StopGap is so simple to fit, even the kids had a go. Meet Carmen (left), and her friend, Anaii, both aged seven…

Cleaning out the gaps

We decided to fit StopGap in our front room this weekend. As well as making the room cold, the gaps were also letting in slugs, as my husband found out when he trod on one in bare feet the other night. Our floorboards have been exposed for a number of years, so the first job was to clear the floorboard gaps of dust, muck and fluff. There were also places where there were lumps of varnish in the gaps. This was easily remedied using a decorator’s knife:

Even five year old Joseph had a go:

Sealing floorboard gaps

Once the gaps were cleared, the floor was ready to go. Although StopGap is easy enough for a seven year old to fit, the kids decided at this point that bouncing on the trampoline was way more fun than helping their parents out. So we fitted the StopGap. Happily, it’s no hassle and the room was finished quickly and easily.

We even did under our skirting boards.

So take that, slugs!

And draughts.

Thanks to Carmen, Anaii and Joseph, and a shout out to Marceline the nosy beagle.

We’d love to see pictures of your kids helping out – head over to our Facebook page to post them.