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During the construction of my home, I had “bamboo” hardwood floors installed over a staple-up radiant heat system. The floor was glued and stapled with a shorter nail, such that the staple-up tubing would not punctured.
Recently, I am noticing at the joint lines where the wood groves are butted together, gaps have appeared after one-year after the installation.
Is this normal due to wood shrinkage, and how can the contractor repair this for a long-term lasting no-crack exposure finish?
Thanks,
Spencer
Replies
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As background...
Is the RFH tubing stapled underneath the subfloor?
Is your floor structure subfloor (thickness?), then 1/2" T&G bamboo? Anything else?
What's the water temperature?
What's your current inside humidity?
*I'll tag on out of curiousity...what was the structure of the bamboo? Vertical grain with full-thickness laminations? Flat grain 3-ply? Was the flooring properly acclimated before installation? Properly installed (are staples instead of nails allowed?). Was a flooring nailer/stapler used (one that forces the strips together when firing by strikng it with a mallet), or just a regular old, hand-held, trigger-actuated pneumatic stapler? If you're not sure of the acclimation proceedure, see the flooring tech sheet or look on the manufacturer's web site.A staple-up does generally run hotter than a slab, but the net result is to get the surface of the flooring the same temp. I'm suprised that an engineered ply-product moved. Especially since it was both glued and fastened.Still, some gaps can to be expected, especially if you used a wider plank...6" wide instead of the narrower 3.5" strip flooring.Still...I'm suprised.