I laid a brand new three quarter, maple hardwood floor in August and I am starting to notice some gaps between some of the boards. The gaps are anywhere from 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch. The finish is a brownish red and the white from the unfinished maple sticks out. I really notice this shift by the air registers. This stuff is supposed to be kiln dried, is it possible that is has shrunk? Or did I do a crappy job of installing it? It’s only in a small area but my eye always goes right to that damn spot!
P.S I let the wood sit for at least a month before I installed it. Any suggestions of how I might be able to fix it (besides a nice area rug) would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.
Replies
Brush some stain in between the cracks and you won't notice it that much DAN
It's normal, wood moves. The cracks will disappear in the spring.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Diomedes,
Welcome to the world of wood.. In August with high humidity wood swells. In the winter as our houses dry out the wood shrinks.. and the wood opens up..
If you laid the wood jammed tight in the winter when it's dried up as the summer humidity came your wood will buckle.
The real test is next summer.. if everything is really tight then the solution is a little more humidity during the winter. (buy a lot of plants and keep them watered.)
dio... check the moisture content of the wood...
and check the Relative Humidity in your house
you need a humidifier... your floors need a humidifier....
You can let the wood sit for six months prior to install....if they are six humid months (i.e. August), the wood is going to shrink when introduced to dryer (i.e. heated) conditions.
Acclimation only works when there is little change in the existing enviroment throughout the year.
Adding humidty to the homes heating system might help lessen the shrinkage during the winter months.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
The humidity is the key, but here's another potentially possible "aid".
Customer had two stripes of shrunken boards running across the Kitchen floor (with the flooring). There were two corresponding heat runs (6'' round) running right below these areas.
He took som 1'' Dow Foambd and "glued" it up in the joist space above the ducts and against the subfloor.
Next winter-shrinkage greatly reduced.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
I took some advice and installed a humidifier on my furnace...its only been about two weeks but I still haven't noticed a difference in the gaps in the floors. Am I being too impatient or should I turn up the humidity and wait?
Hey Dio'
well as you have noticed there are alot of different opinions on the subject. If I have learned anything about hardwood is that climate can have a lot to do with how the wood floors move.
I live in the same region as you and have learned a few things about locally supplied hardwood floors. The condition of your product will very from one supplier to the next, even when it comes from the same manufacturer.
Lets take Bruce Hardwood floors for example. If you purchased from the Home depot you may be all right. Bruce Harwood floors are packed in cardboard boxes only. No plastic. Home Depot stores their wood inside (dry environment) This is good for you. ......unless they brought in a trailer load and left all the overstock sitting in a damp trailer. The high humidity soaks in to the wood. This is bad for you. Many flooring suppliers store their stock in unheated warehouses. As you have noticed, our area gets bloody damp regardless of the time of year.
This rule can change because some manufacturers will shrink wrap their hardwood before boxing it. Is this good or bad? Not sure. It would depend on how well the manufacturer did things on their end.
Well that is a long explanation that hasn't helped your problem. If you have gaps that big I doubt that the gaps will close up with the change of the seasons. You may see some movement but I doubt that much.
Here's a little trick I learned from another installer when you are dealing with those "...what the hell do i do with this!" situations. Take you mitre saw and cut up a bunch of scrap flooring. Take a stain that best matches the existing floor and stain the saw dust with it. After it dries sweep it into the gaps. It isn't a fix but it will help to reduce it's visibility. It actually works pretty good.
I hope that helps.
Dave
Along with the stain, I would expect that you would add some of the finish, at least if it is oil based. It makes sort of a grout. I'm not sure what a water based finish might do.
Hardwood goes bad two ways, 1) it shrinks, 2) it expands and lifts .. I think you got the better deal!