Why Gap Hardwood Flooring

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

Why gap hardwood flooring. But to answer a common question. Thankfully for most hardwood floors the answer is no. Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation. Jasper hardwood canadian silver maple collection in montebello gray sku.

Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood. Gaps in hardwood floors can be a huge visual annoyance. Yes it can still have gaps. 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.

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. Why you should avoid putty fillers. During winter months complaints usually start trickling in. Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps.

10098557 don t delay fixing hardwood floor gaps. For normal gaps no repairs are needed. Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation. Hardwood floor gaps cracks.

Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust. Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes. Adding filler is not a good idea. This is because the hardwood flooring expansion occurs on each board.

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. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place. The larger the room the larger the gap must be.

Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out. Hardwood gaps are generally caused by one of a few installation errors. This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it. They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture.

It will get pushed out as the wood expands with moisture. Another exacerbating condition is water damage. Why do we have gaps. 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.

The reason hardwood floors have gaps. The total expansion possible is a direct resultant of how many boards there are. 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. Failing to keep boards straight when working.