Engineered Wood Flooring Expansion Joints

I purchased 1400 sf of 5 wide 3 4 thick brazilian koa from the tulsa ll store to install over a wood sub floor.

Engineered wood flooring expansion joints.

The short answer to this question is yes. Allow this normal movement in all installations by providing the recommended side or perimeter expansion gap or spacing per product. What this means is the wood expands or contracts or grows and shrinks in response to changing temperatures and humidity. The expansion gap should be around the whole perimeter of the room wherever the flooring may be against fixed objects such as walls doorways radiator pipes and fireplaces.

Are expansion gaps necessary for solid and engineered wood flooring. But to answer a common question. In reality that 1 4 recommendation can sometimes cause problems for laminate also. It s a common saying that wood works.

Being a natural organic material wood is always in motion. It is an essential gap that must be left around the edge of the room when fitting hardwood bamboo or laminate flooring. Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood. Yes it can still have gaps.

Expansion joints in laminate flooring laminate flooring consists to about 90 of wood. As a result when it comes to installing engineered wood flooring you must leave an expansion gap otherwise you could come up against severe problems in the future. Do i need expansion joints in the center of my hardwood installation. Although engineered wood flooring is more resistant to expansion and contraction than solid wood it is still important to leave an expansion gap when installing an engineered wood floor.

Provided below are some examples of the use of expansion trims and beads. An expansion gap is a term used when fitting wooden flooring. 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. Of profiles are available including trims for joints within the floor doorway transitions as well as beadings.

Many flooring sales people unfamiliar with hardwood flooring assume expansion is the same as laminate flooring. It is understood that wood flooring will expand and contract in relation to the in door humidity and temperature levels. Bob i got your name from the ll chat help line. There isn t a wood flooring installer in the business who isn t guilty of taking a shortcut or two on the job site from time to time.

Fortunately most of the problems are easily preventable with a little diligence on the part of the installer. Expansion gaps contraction of hardwood floors explained. The bad news is that when you take shortcuts there s plenty that can go wrong. So while engineered wood flooring withstands temperature and moisture changes much better than solid wood you should still anticipate a small element of expansion and contraction.