Why Gap Hardwood Flooring

Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust.

Why gap hardwood flooring.

Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large 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. Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out. Failing to keep boards straight when working.

The best times to repair hardwood floors are april and october. 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. Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation. Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation.

10098557 don t delay fixing hardwood floor 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. Often it s a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping.

It will get pushed out as the wood expands with moisture. Thankfully for most hardwood floors the answer is no. Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes. For normal gaps no repairs are needed.

They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture. 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. Adding filler is not a good idea. Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair.

This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it. Jasper hardwood canadian silver maple collection in montebello gray sku. 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. The total expansion possible is a direct resultant of how many boards there are.

The reason hardwood floors have gaps. Gaps in hardwood floors can be a huge visual annoyance. Why do we have gaps. This is because the hardwood flooring expansion occurs on each board.

But to answer a common question. Hardwood gaps are generally caused by one of a few installation errors. Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place.

Why you should avoid putty fillers. The larger the room the larger the gap must be. 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. During winter months complaints usually start trickling in.