Cumaru Brazilian teak floors- prevent gaps

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I am sorry if this is a duplicate post. I think my last post was posted in the wrong forum.

I am
going to be laying new hardwood flooring in my older home and I fell in love
with a prefinished Cumaru Brazilian teak 5 inch wide flooring. My concern is
gaping once it is installed. I live on the East Coast where our winters can be
cold ( winter can get as low as 10-15 deg ) and we have very humid summers. I
am looking at having it installed within the next month.

How long do you guys recommend I acclimate the
flooring before its installed? Would 2 weeks be enough time? Do you guys think
this wood is to unstable and I should look at another type? I have been looking
for the perfect floor for the past 4 months and this Brazilian teak is by far
my favorite.

I expect some gaping with a wood floor but I
have read horror stories of people who have gaps so big a quarter can fit in it
and it never shrinks back. Do you think that is installation error or the wood?
If you have any advice on how to avoid large gaps I would appreciate it. The floor would be installed over a subfloor

Featured Answer

User

6 years ago

What is your whole home humidification system? Wood of any type will shrink in the winter and swell in the summer without proper climate control. That is why all of the old homes have large gapping between floor boards. It’s normal when you don’t adequately control interior conditions. That means using AC in summer too.

Cumaru is inherently unstable from the beginning outside its tropical forest environment. It’s difficult to get it to a low enough moisture level to lay, and many of the low cost mills fail at that. You will have a high cull rate if the installer is doing his job correctly. That increases costs.

Moisture levels are ONLY measured by a moisture meter. Not time. Acclimation and equalization of the moisture content must be measured. Not guessed at.

Rules for wood flooring are simple and not at all secret. Don’t buy the cheap $1.98 product or use the cheap $1.98 installer. Control your interior climate. Expect it to behave and look like wood, not plastic. Keep your dogs nails clipped, your furniture legs protected, and food and drink off of it. Don’t wet mop it, or steam it, or coat it with any glop. No oil soaps, orange oil concoction, lemon oils, or any other folk remedy. Dust mop only, and wrung out til practically dry damp mop when soil is more aggressive.

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Comments (6)

PRO
Johnson Flooring Co Inc
6 years ago
Acclimation is important but keeping the indoor humidity in a narrow range is much more important.
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Cumaru has moderate movement. Not a lot but definitely some. If you have humidifiers/dehumidifers/ac to keep a consisten temperature/humidity through the year that's a good thing. I mentioned this to floorguy before but got no response. Not sure if he is confusing brazilian teak with real teak (tectonis grandis). There is a large disucssion with legal harvestation of real teak - with the sustainable teak being "plantation teak". The best teak(true teak) in the world is from burma. Unfortunately burma and the us don't get along (sort of like cuba) - therefore anything from burma is labeled 'illegal'. Now, not getting into whether its forested correctly or whether the political powers that be in burma are right/wrong but the rest of the world use burmese teak - just not us. We'll use a lot of other woods that are harvested in much worse conditions than burmese teak but because us nd burma are politically at odds - burmese teak is 'illegal'. Brazilian teak is harvested similarly to brazilian cherry - and its whole issues in the brazilian/south american rain forest. they are two distinct woods with the "teak" common name (brazilian teak is not teak, just a common name for us to associate it with a desirable wood that isn't as widely available).
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We had Cumaru hardwood in the master bedroom of our last home. Loved them. Your second pic is more what ours looked like. I also can't see the gray color cabinet pic you posted going with the floors. Cumaru is very exotic looking. I could see a combination of wood and white tones and add gray somewhere in the mix, but not the light tone posted. In our bedroom, we had 15 ft. of wood and frosted glass "Shoji" style closet doors across one side of the room (no walk in closet) . It went great with the floors . A lower platform bed with crisp, tightly tucked bedding .Our night stands were a contemporary style with a warm color wood drawer wrapped in espresso wood and metal tipped wood legs. I used sheer white curtains with bamboo shades to lighten the look . Obviously an Asian influence with a modern twist . I realize I'm describing a bedroom, but perhaps it can give you a sense of at least one particular style that works with it. Contemporary, clean lined wood cabinetry with white accents or white cabinetry with wood accents would look lovely . Perhaps gray countertops . In this first pic you can see how you can mix a gray modern staircase with the rich floors. In this second pic, I personally like the contrast of white cabinets, just not the style with the floors. I think a contemporary white kitchen would be better. And I don't like pastel backsplash with the floors. But, that's just my own opinion .:-) I could see these and the darker gray of the island .
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jiffer21225
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the advice. We currently don't have a home humidification system. We do run heat in the winter and a/c in the summer. We don't keep track of the humidity level in the house. I guess we should start checking that. The house currently has 60 year old white oak floors that we are having someone pull up and replace with new floors. The floors have very little to no gaping.

The previous owners must of had pets because the floors has a lot of pet stains and also some larger water damage spots. Because of these issues the flooring company would have to repair much of the floor (probably 40% of the house) So we decide to replace the flooring in the entire house.

The flooring company seems to know what they talking about but I am always the type of person to educate myself as much as possible to make sure its done right.

We are buying the flooring and having the flooring company install it. We were not looking at the really cheap stuff at $1.99 a Sq ft stuff. What we were looking at is in the $5-7 range. Since the Brazilian Teak flooring seemed to be unstable I think we will pass on it. Our 2nd choice afyercthecteak flooring was a hard maple. Any advice on this type of flooring?

The question I do have is about the moisture test. I understand that the flooring and subfloor must be tested and be within a compatible range. The problem we might have with testing the subfloor is the flooring guy is pulling up the hardwood and so it might be difficult to test until he pulls up the floor. If it's not capable we would have to reschedule the job and live with subfloor for who knows how long. Is is there any way to test some floor without pulling it all out?
Anony Mous
6 years ago
We are in Houston, and are considering cumaru for interior flooring. I sure appreciate Sophie Wheeler's input :) !! We have two westies, and wanted a very hard wood to avoid scratches.
PRO
G & S Floor Service
6 years ago
Install Advantech subfloor panel over the existing subfloor, before you lay new floors. It will stiffen the subfloor, reduce bounce, noise and will help control moisture vapor. Which will help minimize gapping.
stumpydarby
6 years ago
I have been in love with Brazilian Teak for a long time. I am planning on using engineered 5 1/4” in my remodel. I am in Florida ... so hopefully their wont be in gaping problems or any other issues.

I honestly couldn’t find any other floor that we liked half as much as Brazillian Teak.

Cumaru Brazilian teak floors- prevent gaps

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Johnson Flooring Co Inc

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Cumaru Brazilian teak floors- prevent gaps

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Comments (6)

Johnson Flooring Co Inc

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jiffer21225Original Author

Anony Mous

G & S Floor Service

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jiffer21225
Original Author