This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it.
Why gap hardwood flooring.
During winter months complaints usually start trickling in.
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.
Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood.
What you re seeing happen is perfectly normal for all things made of wood in your home including your wood floors.
Hardwood gaps are generally caused by one of a few installation errors.
For normal gaps no repairs are needed.
This is because the hardwood flooring expansion occurs on each board.
Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation.
Why do we have gaps.
Often it s a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping.
The larger the room the larger the gap must be.
Gaps in hardwood floors can be a huge visual annoyance.
Jasper hardwood canadian silver maple collection in montebello gray sku.
Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation.
Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps.
For larger gaps that don t close up call in a professional contractor who can repair floors properly.
10098557 don t delay fixing hardwood floor gaps.
But to answer a common question.
The best times to repair hardwood floors are april and october.
The total expansion possible is a direct resultant of how many boards there are.
Adding filler is not a good idea.
Thankfully for most hardwood floors the answer is no.
The reason hardwood floors have gaps.
Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust.
They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture.
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.
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.
Yes it can still have gaps.
Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair.
Hardwood floor gaps cracks.
Failing to keep boards straight when working.
Another exacerbating condition is water damage.
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.
Why you should avoid putty fillers.
It will get pushed out as the wood expands with moisture.
Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes.