How to hide those gaps between your floors and your trim
By: Jason A
Tags: Construction, Trim, DIY, Flooring, Renovations

How to hide those gaps between your floors and your trim Jason A Jun 2·3 min read

DIYers, here’s a good way to finish those unsightly gaps between your newly-installed floors: you caulk them with colored caulk.

Before — gaps draw a lot of attention to themselves and look bad

After — colored caulking can hide gaps and make them practically invisible

Now, there are other ways to do this, but this is a great solve if you need it done cheaply and quickly. Just remember to take a flooring sample to the store when you are picking out which color caulking you want. I highly recommend Kampel’s line as they have a wide variety of colors, and most stores that carry their product also have a color palette for you to look at that is pretty well representative of the stuff that’s actually gonna come out of the tube, and, in my experience, is a much better representation than color printed on a tube or piece of paper.

I used Oatmeal (CF9024). Pay attention to the number, there may be different/updated formulations under the same name. This happens a lot with tinted paints.

Now, here’s how to fill bigger/deeper gaps like the one I had to deal with:

First, clean the area of dust and debris. Then, use a flexible foam sealant like Daptex Multi-Purpose Foam Sealant to fill the gaps.

This stuff never gets hard because it’s made to flex. Also, it cleans up nicely (tube does too) so it’s reusable unlike traditional gap filler. Tip: when cleaning the tube, wash it off good, then blow OUT (do NOT suck in — if you get cancer from this, that’s on you) the gunk still inside. Then, rinse out the tube once more.

3. Now, take a well-damp (but not dripping) sponge and wipe up the excess foam. I love me a big ol’ fat grout sponge. Greatest tool in the world.

Foam applied will expand a bit.

The foam after a quick, smooth sponging.

4. Let the foam cure. It takes 18–24hrs for a 1" bead, which is REALLY thick. For a smaller bead, let it sit for 12 hrs and then touch it. If it’s sticky, it’s not ready. If it’s not, it’s ready.

5. Knead the caulk. Apply it, making sure you overfill slightly.

6. Take a wet finger and run it along the caulk bead to give it a clean edge. DO NOT push hard into the gap; caulking shrinks when dry.

7. Let the caulking cure. Again, that’s about 24 hrs.

8. You’re done. Unless the caulking has shrunk too much and you see a shadowed divot. In that case, add another bead on top.

9. Let it cure. Again, that’s about 24 hrs.

10. Enjoy your gapless floor.

I even used this method for filling the gap between my floor and the transition for the sliding door to my patio.

Now, if I could just clean up that stupid aluminum stain just above the caulking. That was there before the caulking, FYI.

Nigh unto invisible. Don’t pay attention to the foam on the baseboard that’s not cleaned up yet.

I hope this helps take the attention off unsightly gaps in your floors to put the spotlight back where it belongs — on your beautiful floors themselves. For more [occasional DIY tips] follow me on Twitter at @jasonakinaka. I also post fiction writing stuff.