Eek! My Hardwood Floor Has Gaps!

Why are floors beautiful when they're newly laid, and then a split between the boards happens later on? What is the reason that old wood floors that looked great in the summer split and creak during winter?

Let's return to the wood flooring's source: the tree. It was once a tree, wasn't it? The wood flooring is an organic material which means it is a natural product. The trees absorb moisture and water into the trunk through the roots. Trees can endure long periods of low humidity; however, the cells in the wood will become drier and shrink due to this less water content.

You can be sure of this: If you chop the tree into wood flooring boards, they're still wood and still organic and able to absorb and hold in moisture. That's precisely the function they perform. Wood floors "move," meaning expand and contract throughout their lifespan.

When wood absorbs water, it expands or swells in size, and when it is dehydrated, it shrinks or shrinks. Wood flooring reacts to surroundings immediately. It absorbs humidity from the air within your home or sheds it when the Relative Humidity (RH) of the house falls. What is Relative Humidity? Relative humidity measures the quantity of water vapor in the air. It is expressed in percentages of the maximal amount of water that the air is able to hold when it's at the same temperature.

Warmer air has more water than colder air, which is why the days that are hot are generally more humid than colder days. In winter, the air outside is usually dry and cold, while the RH inside houses decreases. This is the reason we receive more calls regarding this issue during this time of the year. Not only are RH swings impact the wood floors, but they may also be detrimental to trim and cabinetry.

The cold winter months demand additional heating. Dry air is pushed into the air. The moisture is then removed not just from the surroundings but also from the pores or cells in the wood. Contraction takes place. Ventilation plays a significant part in this drying process that occurs during winter. If you introduce cold winter air inside a home and then allow it to warm up in the house, the RH of that air decreases drastically. The older, leaky houses with old windows pose an issue in maintaining the RH within the house at the same level. Most people don't know what dry air inside their homes gets during winter!

We now know the causes of wood flooring splitting (shrink); how can we stop this from happening? If you are able to maintain an even relative humidity and temperature within your home, you'll have less movement on the floor.

If you change the conditions, the dimensions will also change. Measurements refer to the exact dimensions (measurements) for the specific boards. The ability to maintain constant temperatures in the house is crucial to the long-term success of a wood floor. If you have hardwood floors in the home, and you turn off your heating completely while you head off to your winter residence, you will return to a home full of huge gaps and perhaps broken and cracked boards! However, if you travel for a lengthy summer vacation and shut off all cooling in your home when you're away, it is likely that you'll be returned to a wet or swollen floor.