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?
W
Wintersonne30 Nov 2020 15:50Alessandro schrieb:
The temperature differences between the rooms are too small to have any effect.My husband wondered whether the temperature differences (the hallway will be colder than the bedrooms) really make a difference.
The "movement" of wood is influenced less by temperature (as with metal or stone) and more by humidity. Wood behaves like a sponge, absorbing or releasing moisture, which changes its width and thickness (its length hardly changes at all). Whether it is cold or warm doesn’t matter. What matters is how much moisture is in the air.
At the "beginning of life" of a wood product, it shrinks the most ("overly" dry wood is rarely used). After that, shrinking and swelling alternate. From what I have read, this process never truly stops. Wood continues to "move" even after several hundred years.
"Wood is alive" 🙂
At the "beginning of life" of a wood product, it shrinks the most ("overly" dry wood is rarely used). After that, shrinking and swelling alternate. From what I have read, this process never truly stops. Wood continues to "move" even after several hundred years.
"Wood is alive" 🙂
It breathes 😉
Sorry, just a little joke.
We unfortunately experienced this with our current parquet flooring. Many planks had to be replaced because their ends had lifted by up to half a centimeter (0.2 inches). These were real tripping hazards and painful toe risks. The installer blamed the subfloor, and the blame was passed back and forth.
It’s Wenge, brushed and oiled, planks about 80cm x 10cm (31.5 inches x 4 inches).
We suspect the cause is that the planks were delivered on the truck covered partly with snow, and some were unpackaged.
Sorry, just a little joke.
We unfortunately experienced this with our current parquet flooring. Many planks had to be replaced because their ends had lifted by up to half a centimeter (0.2 inches). These were real tripping hazards and painful toe risks. The installer blamed the subfloor, and the blame was passed back and forth.
It’s Wenge, brushed and oiled, planks about 80cm x 10cm (31.5 inches x 4 inches).
We suspect the cause is that the planks were delivered on the truck covered partly with snow, and some were unpackaged.
What I consider reasonable in this issue is when parquet flooring is installed, meaning there are many joints. Each joint provides a bit of "flexibility."
With a width of a parquet block of, for example, 8 cm (3 inches) and a joint width of 0.2 millimeters (so laid very tightly), that adds up to 2.5 millimeters (0.1 inches) per meter. That is significant...
The "rest" will then be compressed.
It is also important (the other way around) that the joints do not become too large when the wood dries.
In the above case of the Wenge floor, the "transport with snow" seems to me to be a workmanship error, but it actually suggests too large joints (after shrinking) rather than detachment caused by the wood swelling.
One possible explanation that comes to mind is that there are problems with the adhesive. Exotic woods can be more challenging in that respect (although I haven’t heard of that with Wenge until now, but I don’t know much about it).
With a width of a parquet block of, for example, 8 cm (3 inches) and a joint width of 0.2 millimeters (so laid very tightly), that adds up to 2.5 millimeters (0.1 inches) per meter. That is significant...
The "rest" will then be compressed.
It is also important (the other way around) that the joints do not become too large when the wood dries.
In the above case of the Wenge floor, the "transport with snow" seems to me to be a workmanship error, but it actually suggests too large joints (after shrinking) rather than detachment caused by the wood swelling.
One possible explanation that comes to mind is that there are problems with the adhesive. Exotic woods can be more challenging in that respect (although I haven’t heard of that with Wenge until now, but I don’t know much about it).
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