Nail Down Hardwood Floor Expansion Gap

Also didn t ask what type of flooring but if it is not floated some manufacturers don t require and expansion gap over a certain range.

Nail down hardwood floor expansion gap. You should use flexible flooring adhesive to allow your flooring to expand and contract with. I m preparing to install bruce 3 4 pre finished nail down hickory hardwood flooring in my dining and living rooms. If your flooring is laid tight up against your studs or drywall and the indoor humidity increases the floor has no place to expand and so the pressure will force the flooring up off the floor. The term expansion gap when used in conjunction with wood flooring refers to the space left around the edges of a room when a floor is fitted.

The moisture caused by a wet basement is enough to significantly swell and buckle the hardwood floor above it so ignore the expansion gap rule at your. Expansion gaps contraction of hardwood floors explained. Engineered flooring can be installed above grade at grade and below grade level do not install hardwood flooring in bathrooms. Always check with the manufacturer s instructions to determine if your hardwood floor can be installed over an in floor radiant heat system.

With a nail down engineered hardwood floor follow the same subfloor preparation steps as above including underlayment and laying spacers around the room s perimeter to maintain the manufacturer s recommended expansion gap. This installation method is identical to staple down only the fastener and fastening tool differ. At each end of the starting wall measure out the width of a floorboard plus 1 2 inch for the expansion gap between the flooring and the wall and make a mark. Providing a gap between objects and your hardwood flooring and acclimatizing the hardwood flooring boards applies to both nail down and glue down installations.

The nwfa guidelines state no more than 2 moisture difference and expansion space 3 4 is required. What is an expansion gap gluing my hardwood floor down to be able to glue your hardwood floor down the subfloor must be a solid and sound structure for example concrete or wooden floor boards. However you can also use the longest straightest wall as your guide. Solid hardwood flooring only can be installed on or above ground level with a plywood subfloor.

Either gaps will develop between boards as the hardwood flooring boards contract in width or the boards will buckle as they try to expand with no where to go. The floor is tongue groove and i assume nail down. Many flooring sales people unfamiliar with hardwood flooring assume expansion is the same as laminate flooring. Glue down floors do not fall into this category as most are of the engineered.

And for more advice about expansion gaps see. In reality that 1 4 recommendation can sometimes cause problems for laminate also. The temperature in the house is 61 heat is on and the humidity is 28. Dmoore jan 29 14 at 19 09.