Are Wood Floor Expansion Spaces Needed?
I’m getting ready to install some pre-finished, solid wood (3/4″ Maple T&G) flooring from Zickgraf (www.zickgraf.com). Their installation instructions have this statement:
Leave at least 3/4″ for expansion at all vertical obstructions, this space will be covered by base board and quarter round.
What do I do when the wood is going to butt up to tile (a fireplace hearth) or a sliding glass door? This will happen both parallel and perpendicular to the grain of the planks. There is no trim to cover the suggested 3/4″ gap in these places.
Thanks for your help.
David in Iowa
Replies
Glue the boards to the floor with PL Premium in those areas, or screw through the face and plug the hole.
I use 3/8" to 1/2" gaps, not 3/4". It's always been enough and I don't like to use base shoe unless I have to.
3/4 of an inch is a larger gap than I leave where a finished floor meets an adjoining surface such as you are speaking of. I leave a space....but it varies depending upon the circumstance.
Sliding door have a threshold? I typically install a reduction strip (of the same species) at this joint.
For the fireplace.....hearth moulding....often, the tiled hearth sits higher than the wood floor. If not, you can find caulk that matches the grout of the hearth tiles.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
At the hearth, picture-frame the tile, leaving a 3/8" space between the wood and tile. Then fill the space with sealant (caulk) color-matched to the tile grout (Laticrete and others do this) and dust the top of the sealant with dry grout to pick up some of the grout texture (or not if you're fine with the appearance of sealant).
Jeff
1. He's asking about wood flooring, not tile.
2. You can buy color matched sanded or unsanded grout caulk. Why sprinkle dry grout on top?
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
"what do I do when the wood is going to butt up to tile (a fireplace hearth)"
Matched sanded sealant is fine.
Jeff
Edited 2/2/2007 1:04 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke
I recently had a similar situation, but the tile was bordered with a steel Schluter strip, so to put grout colored caulk on the other side would be odd. I've been trying to match the pine floor with a sanded caulk, but not having much luck with the color matching.
Thanks everyone. So I'm understanding that I don't have to worry about expansion spaces where the ends of the floor boards are going to butt against something, just where the sides butt up, since the expansion is going to be perpendicular to the grain.
Right.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
maybe you got lucky and the slider is running perpendicular to the boards- then you can but them tight because wood doesn't expand in length.