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trashcanman

What is acceptable in terms of gaps for hardwood floor in a new build?

Michael Lamb
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

I had my house built last year by a custom builder, and used real site finished hardwood in varying widths of 2.25", 3.25", and 5" red oak. This winter I have had some large gaps open up, some of which will fit the edge of a quarter. I've been running a humidifier, and keeping the humidity between 35% and 40%. Its kind of odd, because the big gaps tend to show up in some of the smaller areas, like the powder room(3'x7'), and the office(7'x12'). The gaps are large enough where I can easily see the unstained tongue in the wood.

The floors were laid in my house before I even had the power hooked up, so no HVAC was running. This happened in June I believe. The house was dried in at the time, all the windows and doors were in, but they were open during the day when people were working.

So in mid August I finally got power, got the HVAC running(we moved in at the end of August), and after about 4 days or so the floor guys came back and finished the floor. Would laying the flooring in an unconditioned house cause these issues?

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