BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART It is well known that fitted carpets tend to accumulate dirt around their edges where they meet a skirting board.

This dirt can be very difficult to eradicate. The reason why this happens is that use of a vacuum cleaner on a carpet close to its edge tends to cause some air to be sucked through the carpet through a gap between the skirting board and the floor board. Because this air has come f rom beneath the floor, it is inevitably very dirty.

The carpet acts effectively like a filter, removing dust from the air. Therefore, using a vacuum cleaner can in fact increase the amount of dirt within the carpet, rather than decrease it.

Some carpet fitters will inject a bead of silicone sealer to any gap below the skirting board. However, this is not preferred because it must be done well in advance of the carpet being fitted in order to allow the sealer sufficient time to cure. Any solution to the problem is only likely to be accepted if it does not add

significantly to the time and work involved in fitting a carpet and any materials involved must be of minimal cost.

It is an aim of the present invention to arrive at at least a partial solution to this problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a sealing member which includes a base portion and a sealing portion, the base portion being suitable to be secured in use beneath a carpet gripper such that the sealing portion is in contact with a wall surface adjacent to the carpet gripper.

Thus, the sealing member provides a barrier which extends from beneath the carpet gripper to a wall surface (which may be a wall as such or would more typically be a skirting board) thereby reducing the likelihood of air being drawn by a vacuum cleaner through an opening at the edge of the floor.

The sealing portion is preferably relatively flexible as compare with the base portion. This can suitably be achieved by extrusion, for example, by forming the sealing member as a dual hardness extrusion of PVC.

Preferably, the sealing member includes an abutment portion which projects from the base portion in an upward

direction when the sealing member is in place. Such an abutment portion can provide a guide to correct positioning of the carpet gripper which, as will be recognised by those familiar with such matters, must be spaced some distance from a wall.

In a typical embodiment, lengths of sealing member will be laid close to the edge of a floor to be carpeted such that the sealing portion makes contact with a peripheral wall surface. Carpet gripper is then laid on top of the base portion and nails or other suitable fastening means are driven through the gripper and the base portion into a floor below.

Alternatively, a sealing member embodying the invention may be provided to a carpet fitter already secured to carpet gripper. In either case, there is little additional work or complication involved in fitting a carpet when the present invention is put into use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which : Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a sealing member according to a first preferred embodiment of the invention ;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the sealing member of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the sealing member according to the invention.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, a sealing member is formed as an elongate extrusion of PVC.

The sealing member includes a base portion 10 which is formed as a flat web. For use with a typical combination of carpet gripper and carpet, it has been found that a width of approximately 28mm and a thickness of approximately 1.2mm is appropriate for the base portion 10. The base portion 10 is formed from rigid PVC.

A sealing portion 12 extends from one edge of the base portion 10. The sealing portion 12 has a curved profile such that it has an edge remote from the base portion 10 which lies on a plane approximately normal to that of the base portion 10. In use, the sealing member is disclosed such that the sealing portion 12 curves upwardly.

The sealing portion 12 is formed of relatively flexible PVC in a coextrusion with the base portion 10. A height of approximately 9mm has been found to be appropriate for many applications.

An abutment member 14, formed from the same material as

the base portion 10, projects from the base portion 10.

The abutment member 14 has a wall 1S which extends upwardly in use angled towards the sealing portion 12 from a route parallel to and spaced from the sealing portion 12. A lip 16 extends from an upper edge of the wall 15, parallel to the base portion 10 in a direction away from the sealing portion 12.

For use, the sealing member is laid on a floor with its sealing portion 12 in contact with a wall or a skirting board, as the case may be. Carpet gripper is then laid on top of the base portion 10, an edge portion of the gripper being located against the abutment member 14 below its lip 16. The gripper is then secured to the floor by means of nails driven through it and through the base portion 10.

The carpet can then be laid in the normal way. Once it has been laid, an edge of the carpet can be folded into a space between the abutment member 14 and the sealing portion 12 to form a neat edge. Thus, the edge of the carpet is protected from dust which would otherwise find its way to the carpet from beneath the skirting board.

Figure 3 of the drawings shows an alternative embodiment of the sealing member, which corresponds substantially to the construction and use of the sealing member of the first embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2. However, in this alternative embodiment the abutment member 14'does not include a lip beneath which the carpet gripper is

located in use, but instead the wall 15'simply extends upwardly from the base portion 10'and is angled towards the sealing portion 12'. In this alternative embodiment the sealing portion 12 extends to a greater height than the abutment member 14'in order to further reduce the propensity for air being drawn by a vacuum cleaner carrying dirt or dust into the carpet through an opening between the sealing member 12 and the edge of the floor.