wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All,

I'm putting in laminate flooring in a hallway; the hallway opens up
into a room on one end. If you measure from the far end of the hallway
to the far wall of the room, it comes out to about 30.5 feet. Now, I
read on the package that if you putting the flooring in over a width or
length that exceeds 27 feet, you have to put in "expansion" molding?

Can someone enlighten me on this topic? What is expansion molding?
Additionally, I'm wondering what will happen if I just go ahead and put
it in without expansion molding? Am I likely to see problems with the
floor? Thanks for any feedback!

Sincerely,
-Josh


if its a laminate floating floor, meaning its only fastened to itself and
not the sub floor, these floors will expand and contract. Typicly the gap
for expansion is left at the wall (See you package for how much) The problem
when doing a very large area is that the amount of expansion and contraction
can be greater that the amount of a gap that can be covered by a typical
molding. So, what else could you do? I wouldn't put a big expansion gap down
the middle of a floor. It will look like crap. Mayby put your expansion
joint where the hall joins the larger room. Maybe install a real hardwood
floor instread. if you haven't bought the floor yet see if you can find one
to walk on, compare the feel to a real hardwood floor.

Anyway - To answer your question, expansion molding looks like a T and is
installed over a gap left for expansion and contraction. W/o room for
expansion the floor could buckle a bit and feel springy and not tight to
floor. W/o enough of an expansion joint, if the floor expands past what you
have allowed, you will get buckling. The question is how much. Some floor
will not expand at all, some will shrink, some will expand a lot. Humidity
and tempature will control this.

Theoreticly you could install you floor so it never expands or contracts at
all! This would be possible if you let you pices aclimate to their
environment for a few weeks AND the room NEVER changes tempature and
humidity. For some folks this is very possible. For most its impossible.

good luck