How To Repair Laminate Flooring That Is Separating

Is your hardwood floor separating? Your old tongue-and-groove hardwood floor or wide-plank floors may develop gaps between the boards and separate due to the shrinkage of the wood as it dries out over fourth dimension and loses its moisture content.

If the floorboards were not tightly laid during installation, information technology could also crusade your hardwood floor to divide. Y'all tin fill gaps betwixt hardwood floorboards with wood strips, rope, and wood putty.

They tin can all be stained to lucifer the floor and enable them to blend in better. Here are means to set up hardwood floor separating.

How to Fix Separating Hardwood Floors

Table of Contents

• one How to Prepare Separating Hardwood Floors
  • 1.i i. Using Wood Strips
  • 1.ii ii. Using Rope
  • ane.3 3. Using Wood Putty
• 2 Causes of Wood Flooring Separation
  • 2.one 1. Temperature and Moisture Extremes
  • 2.two 2. Acclimatization and Expansion Gaps
  • two.three three. Poor Installation
• 3 Hardwood Floor Separating: Final Thoughts

• 

i. Using Wood Strips

For this method, you would demand a spare floorboard that is ripped cut using a tabular array saw. If you don't have whatever floorboard left from the installation, you lot would need to buy new or salvaged boards that match the species or colour of the existing flooring.

Utilise a measuring tape to determine the width and length of each gap betwixt floorboards. Then rip-cut the wood strips to the measured width.

Apply a miter saw or handsaw to cut out strips as needed for the length of the gap you are fixing. It is best to cut the strips from the grooved side of the spare floorboard so that the depth of the piece aligns correctly with the natural language of the existing floorboard.

Next, use some forest agglutinative to both sides of each strip and tap it into place in the gap gently, using a mallet or hammer.

Ensure the strip is securely affluent with the bordering boards. Remove excess gum with a damp cloth and allow it to dry completely.

Level the floor surface by sanding downwardly any high spots in the strips; this should be done carefully, and try to avoid the surrounding finish or boards. To blend the stock-still area with the rest of the floor better, you lot can stain or add a finish to the strips.

2. Using Rope

If you lot have broad-plank floorboards, y'all would be dealing with large gaps which tin can exist fixed using a natural-fiber rope.

Rope may have a different appearance than wood, but you lot can use matching stain to blend the rope with the floorboards and make the fixed areas much less noticeable. You would need to use natural rope, such as jute or cotton wool, every bit synthetic rope cannot blot stains.

To ensure the ropes adhere securely to the gap, make clean it out with a painter's 5-in-ane tool or flathead screwdriver, remove debris and dirt particles from the gaps carefully. You can get in with a vacuum cleaner to further remove loose droppings from the gaps.

Cull a slightly larger rope thicker than the gap and stain it with a woods stain that matches the colour of your floorboards. Add the stain to a small-scale bucket and douse in the rope until it is saturated.

Pull out the rope carefully and let the excess stain to baste back into the saucepan. Spread out the stained rope on clean paper-thin and allow it to dry completely.

When the rope is dry, string information technology out along the gap, you may need to use some force with the 5-in-ane tool or a putty knife to push the rope into the gap and terminate when the rope is affluent with or slightly below the wood surface. Cut out excess rope using a precipitous utility pocketknife.

3. Using Woods Putty

If your hardwood floor is separating, another way to quickly fix it is by using wood putty. This fix is effective on small, relatively stable gaps, merely at that place's a slight chance of the gaps reopening, especially during the dry season.

Use a slightly dampened fabric to clean the floorboards on both sides of the gap; before applying a fine bead of forest putty to the gap, apply your finger to piece of work the putty down into the gap using circular motions.

Use a putty pocketknife to scrape off excess putty from the wood surface only be careful non to scratch the floor'southward finish.

One time the putty is set, use a wet cloth to wipe putty residue from the adjoining boards.

Avoid pulling the putty out of the gap and permit it to dry completely before resuming movements on the floor. For further protection and a better look, you lot can utilize a coating of varnish or urethane.

Causes of Wood Flooring Separation

1. Temperature and Moisture Extremes

1 of the causes of wood floor separating is temperature. Woods is a natural product that expands and contracts, depending on the moisture content and temperature of the surface area.

Loftier temperature and high air moisture crusade the forest to accept in wet and expand. When the temperature drops and the moisture dries up, the woods shrinks.

This is a natural occurrence in nature, but once the floorboards have been fitted tightly together, the procedure of expansion and contraction can become an event and crusade great harm to your hardwood floor.

If the boards are expanding and contracting likewise much, they volition either develop cruddy and oftentimes draughty gaps; they tin can too cup or bow due to lack of expansion space.

Both situations can exist avoided by ensuring to install your floorboards properly, leaving recommended expansion joints.

2. Acclimatization and Expansion Gaps

Failure to acclimate the forest floorboards properly earlier installation can cause the boards to dissever and develop gaps.

Read: How long should hardwood flooring acclimate

3. Poor Installation

If your floorboards oasis't been deeply tapped into identify flush against their neighboring board during installation, they may divide and develop gaps over time. Such gaps tin be fixed by tightening upwardly the contact of the boards afterwards installation.

Hardwood Floor Separating: Last Thoughts

Is your hardwood floor separating? This article discusses ways to fix it. You can either use woods strips, rope, and woods putty to make full the gap, blend out the fixed expanse, or apply a glaze of stain or finish over the area.

Earlier dealing with hardwood floor separation, ensure to notice out the cause and fix it promptly. This is to avoid the reoccurrence of your hardwood floor separating.

Source: https://floorcarekits.com/hardwood-floor-separating/

Share this post