Gaps over the winter
A: We moved into our new house last fall. Over the winter our floors started gapping. I contacted the home builder and he talked with the flooring guys and they said it was due to low humidity in the home. I installed a humidifier but by then the cold weather was almost over. I also bought a humidity gauge and it reads over 40% most of the time. The floor guys claimed the gaps would close by themselves but its now July and we have noticed little if any improvement. Our warranty on the home will be over in November so I was wondering how long it normally takes these boards to fix themselves.
Q: Difficult to answer. Several winters back, we had snow from November to March, so it was a long heating season. I saw gaps in my 70 year old strip floor which I never saw before. I fixed the humidifier on the furnace and the gaps closed soon after.
I would say that some slight gapping here and there can be expected with any floor. I am talking no wider than a dime. Depending on the time of year and the climate in the house at the time of installation, an effect can be felt on a floor. I am faced with that right now. If the humidity inside the house is very high, say for example 70% or higher at installation, then drops to 30x in winter, you could get more gapping. Or if wet trades had not finished while a house was being built and the floors were installed in this environment, or if the wood was in fact itself holding higher than normal moisture content of 7-9% at time of installation, then it will shrink considerably during winter months, and because it was above normal when installed, may never completely close up.
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