Mini-plus screened bottom board

[RichardK]

I'm playing around making a mini-plus hive and as it's simple, put together the bottom board shown in the pictures. As you can see, it has a gap along the underside as basically it's two boards with some mesh in between. I'm feeling like having the side gap is a bit lazy....aesthetically it bugs me....but in reality does it matter? Are there any good reasons why the gap is a bad idea?

 

[Finman]

I would say, that quite a big ventilation hole.
If I keep that size hive, I woulf use solid bottom board and about 10 mm × 100 mm entrance.

When you compare 10 cm2 opening to the area of mesh floor difference is huge. It has a big meaning on spring when the colony starts brooding. Days are perhaps warm, but nights are cold near zero.

I measure ventilation needs from number of ventilating bees