I’m about to lay a new floor – I’ve done laminate before, but not solid wood. I note that the ‘standard’ advice is to attach each piece to the sub-floor, but I like the sound of the floating method, which I note WoodYouLike (who seems to know what he’s talking about) seems to favour. (in fact, I think this is the only option, as the sub-floor is vinyl tiles badly laid onto concrete and I hope to just hide it all…)
My questions (at this stage..!) are how big an expansion gap – the room is about 7m by 4m and I see on another thread that WYL has mentioned 3mm gap per metre, so:-
1. I’m guessing that the wood moves less along its length than its width, so if I lay it lengthways up the room, ie so the planks run the 7m direction, presumably I don’t need 21mm at each end? This would result in the need for very thick skirting board (the existing, thinner than this, has been removed for re-skimming of walls).
2. What happens if I leave enough gap all round for expansion and it turns out that the wood, when I lay it, is in its ‘expanded’ form (eg time of year, level of humidity at the time, etc) and then shrinks after a while? I risk ending up with great holes along the edge by the skirting board.
Thanks for your help – only just found this site last night and will certainly be back for more!
My questions (at this stage..!) are how big an expansion gap – the room is about 7m by 4m and I see on another thread that WYL has mentioned 3mm gap per metre, so:-
1. I’m guessing that the wood moves less along its length than its width, so if I lay it lengthways up the room, ie so the planks run the 7m direction, presumably I don’t need 21mm at each end? This would result in the need for very thick skirting board (the existing, thinner than this, has been removed for re-skimming of walls).
2. What happens if I leave enough gap all round for expansion and it turns out that the wood, when I lay it, is in its ‘expanded’ form (eg time of year, level of humidity at the time, etc) and then shrinks after a while? I risk ending up with great holes along the edge by the skirting board.
Thanks for your help – only just found this site last night and will certainly be back for more!
