ᐅ Parquet flooring installed continuously without gaps

Created on: 29 Nov 2020 11:40
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Wintersonne
Upstairs, starting from the hallway, we have solid hardwood flooring. The floor installer did not leave expansion joints at the doorways, so the flooring was laid continuously (glued) and they said this has never caused problems before, even though it is not compliant with DIN standards. Acquaintances mentioned that their floor installer had advised against this. Should we have the joints cut in afterwards?
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nordanney
29 Nov 2020 16:33
My parquet supplier has also been installing his parquet continuously for a long time. I will do the same (about 90m² (970 ft²)).
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Bookstar
29 Nov 2020 16:55
The longest side measures 10m (33 feet), and the width is about 9m (30 feet) as well. The adhesive remains slightly rubbery, not like mortar.

What can happen? I assume it’s a tongue and groove joint? In that case, it might open at the joint, creating a gap. But that is quite unlikely to happen 🙂

And if it does, you can redo that section and install a joint. But don’t worry!
manohara29 Nov 2020 16:56
By "parquet," I mean "small pieces of wood" assembled together.
We had it installed in our house without gaps at the doors (there is a gap all around at the walls).
Parquet naturally has many joints anyway. These absorb some movement – and over the years, the wood is more likely to shrink than swell.
I would leave it as it is and enjoy the gap-free finish.

If a bulge does appear somewhere (which is presumably the concern, since it won’t “crack”), that would, of course, be unfortunate... but: there is always some risk involved...
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Wintersonne
29 Nov 2020 17:07
Thank you all for the many responses 🙂. We were made aware of the potential for shrinkage with low humidity. We will probably leave it as it is and enjoy the gap-free joints, hoping that the tongue and groove connections provide enough allowance for movement.
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BobRoss
29 Nov 2020 17:30
My experience with installing multilayer wide plank flooring on screed with underfloor heating, without an expansion joint between the rooms on each floor (approximately 90-100m² (970-1,080 sq ft) per floor) — after several years and across three floors — is that there is no problem. The screed also does not have any expansion joints. I am still happy not to have those ugly joints.
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Alessandro
30 Nov 2020 08:55
We also do not have expansion joints in the parquet flooring on the upper floor. Why would we? It is a single material and therefore has the same coefficient of expansion.
The temperature differences between the rooms are too small to cause any issues.