Why Gap Hardwood Flooring

They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture.

Why gap hardwood flooring.

The reason hardwood floors have gaps. Hardwood floor gaps cracks. Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair. Why do we have gaps.

Failing to keep boards straight when working. Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out. 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. Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust.

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. Thankfully for most hardwood floors the answer is no. Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation. Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes.

Another exacerbating condition is water damage. 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. 10098557 don t delay fixing hardwood floor gaps.

Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation. 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. This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it. For normal gaps no repairs are needed.

Gaps in hardwood floors can be a huge visual annoyance. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place. 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. Hardwood gaps are generally caused by one of a few installation errors.

During winter months complaints usually start trickling in. Why you should avoid putty fillers. Adding filler is not a good idea. This is because the hardwood flooring expansion occurs on each board.

But to answer a common question. 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. The total expansion possible is a direct resultant of how many boards there are. Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps.

Yes it can still have gaps. What you re seeing happen is perfectly normal for all things made of wood in your home including your wood floors. Jasper hardwood canadian silver maple collection in montebello gray sku. Often it s a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping.