How To Fix Wood Floors That Are Separating

Another exacerbating condition is water damage.

How to fix wood floors that are separating.

For more on how wood flooring responds to moisture read under the microscope for more from author craig dewitt read. Is this normal or was the installation defective. The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place. With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content.

The floor was put down in august and started to separate in december. A floating laminate floor is not glued nailed stapled or otherwise secured to the subflooring. Thankfully this is a situation that with the right preparation can be pretty much avoided. Repair cracks in wood floors.

With a directly bonded engineered or solid floor once plank separation has occurred it is rare that a repair to an adequate standard without removing the floor is possible. Instead it is put together almost like a puzzle with planks snugly fitted together. In some locations the space is wider than a credit card. This is especially noticeable with site finished floors whose final appearance after the work has been done is near flawless.

Do your best to work neatly and efficiently but don t take too much time. We can hear nails pop. Dear martin summer time installation in hot. Don t be afraid to use more glue than you think you need you don t want the planks separating again after a few short days.

Wood glue dries quickly and once it does it will be tough to get a second shot. The comfort zone about how the air in buildings affects wood floors and the troubleshooting column look out below about crawlspace moisture wreaking havoc on a solid wood floor. Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out. They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture.

How to fix wood flooring separation there are few things that spoil a nice wood floor more than boards that have separated and developed gaps. Adhesive injection is sometimes used but the success of such a method is very much dependant on the reason for plank separation. How to fix separating hardwood floors. Often floating engineered wood floors are installed over existing tile vinyl or another floor.