=20
"Will" wrote in message =
...
| Fred:
|=20
| We live in central Ontario as well.
|=20
|=20
| fred wrote:
| im in central ontario, canada and we do get some major differences =
in
| humidity during the summer months, i know the outside edge will =
move
| towards the wall, but will that movement be enought for the center
| boards to move without buckling. fred
|=20
| Maybe. :-)
|=20
| Put up some new drywall etc this fall to repair a mess left by =
previous=20
| owner (and renovation "hexpert")... The ceiling buckled enough between =

| walls to ripple the metal edging on the drywall. The "hexpert" had cut =

| out a wall and left about 12" of studs hanging from the ceiling. =
Should=20
| have ripped out the whole room and started over - all drywall,=20
| insulation etc. Patching a botch job eats time. Since the same =
materials=20
| weren't used everywhere everything shrank at different rates. It's a=20
| north facing room. If you recall this January we were close to 40 =
below=20
| near Barrie. The room shrank enough to buckle the metal edging on the=20
| drywall... After all the painting and trim and new laminate floor was=20
| installed of course..
|=20
| In this stinking climate you have to plan for considerable expansion =
and=20
| contraction. Recall that our swing can be -40 in winter to +40 in=20
| summer. So the floor may not shrink that much -- or expand all that=20
| much. But the house might be moving as well. Something many of our=20
| southern neighbours forget.
|=20
| You may want to install humidity control if your house is not that=20
| "stable". You have probably never thought to estimate for expansion =
and=20
| shrinkage in the order of an inch. I will think about it in future. =
I=20
| estimate we had about one inch shrinkage over 10.5 feet.
|=20
| The floor was ok because I left about 3/8 inch at the edges... more or =

| less. The floor shrank a little bit, the room shrank a lot.
|=20
| Put on big trim - just because of the shrinkage/expansion issue.
|=20
| =20
| On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 09:01:32 -0500, Will
| wrote:
| =20
| =20
| Where do you live? What is your climate? Is there a large swing in =
the=20
| humidity?
|
| We always do what the other poster suggested. Lift all the flooring =
and=20
| baseboard. Make sure there is enough expansion room - at least 1/4 " =
at=20
| the edges and install new baseboard afterwards.
|
| If necessary invest in humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Cheaper than=20
| buckling a new floor and having to repair it.
|
|
| fred wrote:
|
| hey guys , am considering putting in birch flooring in my =
livingroom
| and hallways. but have a question about the time of year for
| instalation of real wood. naturally wood shrinks in the winter and
| expands in the summer, sometimes considerably, so if i install this
| floor now (being winter) while the wood has less moisture in it , =
and
| summer comes around with all its humidity will it all expand evenly
| and take up the space around the edge of the walls, or will i have =
a
| bunch of trouble on my hands . so any input on this would be =
greatly
| appreciated, thanks. fred
| =20
| =20
|=20
| --=20
| Will
| Occasional Techno-geek


I had the same -40. Didn't see any problems with my floor and no new =
cracks in my walls. Must be differences in construction quality, house =
didn't shrink either even if some parts of me did from the concept of =
being exposed to those degrees.

--=20

PDQ
--
=20