Timber Flooring Expansion Joints
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.
Timber flooring expansion joints. Expansion gaps are spaces left around the perimeter of rooms against fixed objects such as columns thresholds hearths baseboard and other stationary items built or secured into the framing structure of the home. Not only do they space out 1 4 in. It is an essential gap that must be left around the edge of the room when fitting hardwood bamboo or laminate flooring. Once the floors have been sanded and the floor finish applied it should blend in with the rest of the flooring.
I have a master bedroom living room and dining rooms that are all basically going to be one big area separated by a couple of double wide door ways. It s a common saying that wood works. Expansion gaps these spacers also form 1 in. These symptoms are exacerbated in large areas or where the flooring is installed continuously from room to room through doorways or larger openings.
The roberts patent pending dual expansion joint spacer is the only spacer you ll need for your floating and glue down vinyl laminate and hardwood flooring jobs. An expansion gap is a term used when fitting wooden flooring. Fortunately most of the problems are easily preventable with a little diligence on the part of the installer. Expansion joints in laminate flooring laminate flooring consists to about 90 of wood.
I purchased 1400 sf of 5 wide 3 4 thick brazilian koa from the tulsa ll store to install over a wood sub floor. Even though wood flooring used is no longer living and breathing it still reacts to moisture changes in the environment. This brings us to intermediate expansion joints. Being a natural organic material wood is always in motion.
The bad news is that when you take shortcuts there s plenty that can go wrong. 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. The joint is covered by the baseplate and toe molding consult the manufacturer s and designer s specifications for expansion joint placement. This can result in the floor queaking under foot fall boards within the floor may peak and in extreme cases dome off the substrate.
The use of expansion joints is highly recommended for brisbane and obviously other tropical or sub tropical parts of the country because they allow for some expansion in the timber during periods of high humidity. 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. Normally a space of between 10 and 15mm it s not a huge amount of space but it s enough to help prevent problems with wood flooring when it expands and contracts. What this means is the wood expands or contracts or grows and shrinks in response to changing temperatures and humidity.