Before installing hardwood floors it is important to acclimate the product to your home.
Installed hardwood and before i stained it gaps appeared.
Try to avoid gaps in the first place.
The best times to repair hardwood floors are april and october.
Avoiding hardwood floor gaps.
Expansion and contractions causes hardwood floor gaps.
Not only are they an eyesore they can also collect dirt and dust.
The most common wood species we hear complaints about with gapping and cracks is maple.
Below are summaries of questions we ve fielded over the years.
But to answer a common question.
Have the installer perform a humidity level test because either very high or very low humidity can cause bowing splitting and warping.
Failing to install the first board perfectly straight in a hardwood flooring installation.
Hardwood takes on and loses moisture as the temperatures and the humidity rises and falls.
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.
Adding filler is not a good idea.
Questions from our readers.
It may take years for gaps to show up in your hardwood floors.
Improperly acclimating the hardwoods prior to installation.
Winter in chicago.
Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood.
Failing to keep boards straight when working.
We had a beautiful maple floor installed in july of this year.
For normal gaps no repairs are needed.
Yes it can still have gaps.
For larger gaps that don t close up call in a professional contractor who can repair floors properly.
Hardwood gaps are generally caused by one of a few installation errors.