We've just had a wooden floor laid at home (by professionals), and now I'm
wondering how well the job has been done, and I'm hoping some of the experts
here will be able to advise me.

It's a Bruce hardwood, engineered board, floating floor, made up of 5"
planks. Most of the planks fit together perfectly (there is no groove), but
at the ends of some of the planks there is a gap, wide enough to fit your
thumbnail in.

My question is, should I be worried over these gaps, will they let
moisture/grit in etc., or is it perfectly normal (and presumably with
shrinkage/expansion gaps will change anyway)?

Andrew Wiseman wrote:

We've just had a wooden floor laid at home (by professionals), and now I'm
wondering how well the job has been done, and I'm hoping some of the experts
here will be able to advise me.

It's a Bruce hardwood, engineered board, floating floor, made up of 5"
planks. Most of the planks fit together perfectly (there is no groove), but
at the ends of some of the planks there is a gap, wide enough to fit your
thumbnail in.

My question is, should I be worried over these gaps, will they let
moisture/grit in etc., or is it perfectly normal (and presumably with
shrinkage/expansion gaps will change anyway)?





Expect at least .5% longitudinal expansion in summer, and up to 2%
lateral. If you don't have gaps, you get buckling anyway.

Real wood floors are mnot laminate. If thats what yiu wanted, yoiu
shoudl have got it :-)

"The Natural Philosopher":

Expect at least .5% longitudinal expansion in summer, and up to 2%
lateral. If you don't have gaps, you get buckling anyway.

Thanks. It seems I shouldn't be worried. (My other half wants the whole
floor laid again! It seems they are going to offer to use filler.)

Real wood floors are mnot laminate. If thats what yiu wanted, yoiu
shoudl have got it :-)

I was perfectly happy with laminate. With some of the products out there,
it's difficult to tell the difference between that and real wood. Sadly my
partner, bless her, wasn't having any of it. :-)

"Andrew Wiseman" wrote in message
...
We've just had a wooden floor laid at home (by professionals), and now I'm
wondering how well the job has been done, and I'm hoping some of the
experts
here will be able to advise me.

It's a Bruce hardwood, engineered board, floating floor, made up of 5"
planks. Most of the planks fit together perfectly (there is no groove),
but
at the ends of some of the planks there is a gap, wide enough to fit your
thumbnail in.

My question is, should I be worried over these gaps, will they let
moisture/grit in etc., or is it perfectly normal (and presumably with
shrinkage/expansion gaps will change anyway)?



There should be no gaps - the whole lot should float as one rather than
individual boards moving. Having said that, it is actually more difficult
when fitting it to get tight end to end joints than it is to get tight side
to side joints. There is a slight gap in one of my end to end joints - under
the staircase where it was very difficult to apply end pressure when
fitting. I don't think it's a disaster - just doesn't look quite as good as
a gap-free job. If you're worried about water penetration, you could try
forcing some silicon-based furniture polish into the gaps.

Roger

Andrew Wiseman wrote:
We've just had a wooden floor laid at home (by professionals), and
now I'm wondering how well the job has been done, and I'm hoping some
of the experts here will be able to advise me.

It's a Bruce hardwood, engineered board, floating floor, made up of 5"
planks. Most of the planks fit together perfectly (there is no
groove), but at the ends of some of the planks there is a gap, wide
enough to fit your thumbnail in.

My question is, should I be worried over these gaps, will they let
moisture/grit in etc., or is it perfectly normal (and presumably with
shrinkage/expansion gaps will change anyway)?

A relative of mine had most of his flat done in real hardwood a couple of
years ago.
There are no gaps anywhere, it is immaculate and looks very classy ....

Do you mean the gap is between the boards or around the edges.

I had a Junkers wooden flooring professionally fitted - dont know if
it's the same - the boards are fixed with metal clipsand the gap
between the boards should be 0.1mm. The gap was more like 1mm hence
was incorrect, also, the fitters left a large gap of 25mm at either
end and at each side, they said it was for expansion (It's only a hall
for pete's sake just over 2m long x 1.5m wide!) Have you tried getting
25mm thick+ skirting!

Well, I got the man from Junkers round and he tested the floor,
humidity, etc and recommended that the gaps at the ends and sides
could be sinificantly reduced, he also agreed that the gaps between
the boards was too big and the floor was refitted. So i would
reccommend you get the man from Bruce round to check it out.

Good luck

Kev

"Andrew Wiseman" wrote in message ...
"The Natural Philosopher":

Expect at least .5% longitudinal expansion in summer, and up to 2%
lateral. If you don't have gaps, you get buckling anyway.

Thanks. It seems I shouldn't be worried. (My other half wants the whole
floor laid again! It seems they are going to offer to use filler.)

Real wood floors are mnot laminate. If thats what yiu wanted, yoiu
shoudl have got it :-)

I was perfectly happy with laminate. With some of the products out there,
it's difficult to tell the difference between that and real wood. Sadly my
partner, bless her, wasn't having any of it. :-)