shoud I glue tongue and groove, solid oak floor

[runk40]

So I will be laying a solid Oak floor onto concrete this weekend using Sikabond T54 flex floor adhesive, my questions is should I also use wood glue to bond the tongue and groove? would this help reduce expansion? or better to not glue and allow for small amount of movement?

cheers

 

[AronSearle]

You cannot stop expansion, you allow it, or watch your floor buckle.

You can glue it down, the glues are flexible, leave a card space within the T&G for movement.

 

[runk40]

Hi thanks for your response.

It's the first I've heard of leaving a card gap between joints, and I must say it's an ingenious idea! and why is it not more commonly mentioned in installation guides!?

I have a stack of business cards on my desk, I've worked out that I have 33 plank width's across, 33 business cards gives me an extra 10mm of expansion! on top of the outside gap.

The wood has been in the room for over a month, and assuming the time of year I would guess the floor is more likely to expand from this point than shrink? or I guess it may shrink a little more as haven't had heating on yet.

would you use a thicker card width such as a birthday card width? I also understand the wood doesn't expand much down the length?

thanks again for you advice, much appreciated.

 

[AronSearle]

A typical business card will be fine, just under half a mm.

The moisture content now is likely somewhere in the middle of its range, it will shrink a little more in winter with the heating, and expand in summer as you open doors and windows.

Longitudinal movement is immeasurable.

 

[runk40]

Thanks again!