Do I seal the skirting boards?

[CheeseBadger]

I've read some advice that before fitting carpet it's important to seal any gaps between the floor boards and skirting. Apparently this is to stop airborne dust being drawn into the edges of the carpet and staining it.

This makes sense to me in the case of, say, a suspended timber floor on the ground floor of a house, where there would be underfloor draughts due to the ventilation. Her indoors is insisting I look into sealing the skirting around a first floor bedroom. I just don't see how there could be any air circulation around or below the floor, and I'm therefore skeptical about expending the effort, time and expense.

So - is there any good reason to seal the bottom of the skirting in a first floor room before fitting carpet?

I think you're correct.

You can still get dust staining and floor draughts on upper floors.

I think it is because there are gaps where the joist ends are built into the inner leaf of the wall, and cracks/gaps in the brickworks are not filled and hidden with plaster, between floor and ceiling. Internal brick and blockwork is often quite shoddy compared to facing brickwork.

If will be worse if there are holes in the ceiling e.g. for downlights