Why Gap Hardwood Flooring

Often it s a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping.

Why gap hardwood flooring.

Why do we have gaps. If you do discover that your hardwood floor is beginning to gap in spots it s important that you take care of it sooner rather than later. This is because the hardwood flooring expansion occurs on each board. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place.

Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps. Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation. Why you should avoid putty fillers. The total expansion possible is a direct resultant of how many boards there are.

Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood. The gap between the hardwood flooring and any obstruction should be a minimum of 5 8 inch and 3 4 inch is actually better as shown in figure 2. Gapping in engineered hardwood can be due to many factors including but not limited to the material s manufacturing changes in humidity and the type and quality of the installation. Another exacerbating condition is water damage.

It will get pushed out as the wood expands with moisture. What you re seeing happen is perfectly normal for all things made of wood in your home including your wood floors. The best times to repair hardwood floors are april and october. For normal gaps no repairs are needed.

Gaps in hardwood floors can be a huge visual annoyance. Adding filler is not a good idea. There is a very simple explanation for why some months of the year you see gaps in your floor and other months you don t. For larger gaps that don t close up call in a professional contractor who can repair floors properly.

The larger the room the larger the gap must be. Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust. Jasper hardwood canadian silver maple collection in montebello gray sku. This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it.

10098557 don t delay fixing hardwood floor gaps. During winter months complaints usually start trickling in. Failing to keep boards straight when working. Thankfully for most hardwood floors the answer is no.

Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair. They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture. With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content. Yes it can still have gaps.

The reason hardwood floors have gaps. Hardwood floor gaps cracks. Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out. Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation.