Hardwood Floor Small gaps - Is this normal?

17 years ago

We are doing an addition to our house. The original home builder is the contractor. One room has a wood floor (cumaru) with connects to the rest of the house. They did not choose the same flooring contractor that did the cumaru on the rest of the main level (despite our request). The floor has been glued down, but has not been finished yet. However, I can see small gaps at the ends and between boards in places. They certainly aren't between every board, but for the 225 Square foot room, there are maybe 20 to 25 small gaps. In contrast, the rest of our main level (almost 1200 square feet), has maybe less than 5 gaps, and that is after 3 years). Would these typically be filled as part of the finishing job on the floor and to be expected at this stage of completion? Or is this a sign of the quality of the installation job? Any advice is appreciated.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

ccoombs1
17 years ago
no...there should not be gaps, especially this time of year. If the floor had been laid down in the summer and then winter comes along, sometimes small gaps can open up because things contract in the winter. If you have gaps now and it's summer, this may get worse in the winter. Is the flooring engineered or solid? Engineered does not expand and contract nearly as much though, so it may never get worse....but I would still expect no gaps.
dse1
Original Author
17 years ago
It is a solid floor and was put down about 3 weeks ago. It still needs to be sanded and finished, but I don't see that doing that would have any affect on the gaps. I will have to ask the job sup and see what they think as well.
Related Professionals
Apopka Flooring Contractors · Eustis Flooring Contractors · Glendale Flooring Contractors · Harwich Flooring Contractors · Honolulu Flooring Contractors · Hudson Flooring Contractors · Lakewood Flooring Contractors · Pepper Pike Flooring Contractors · Pompano Beach Flooring Contractors · Trenton Flooring Contractors · Waltham Flooring Contractors · Elgin General Contractors · Euclid General Contractors · Mountain View General Contractors · Universal City General Contractors
ccoombs1
17 years ago
Then definitely no....there should be no gaps. If you have gaps now while it's warm, you will have much larger gaps in the winter. It sounds like they did not take much care to drive the boards together like they should have done. Sanding and finishing will not fix the problem at all. Sorry for your troubles.