Engineered hardwood floors - t-molding/transitions or continuous?

3 years ago

We are replacing our laminate flooring with white oak engineered hardwood floors throughout the house except for our two bathrooms. Our contractor says continuous without t-molding looks better, but ultimately it's up to us. A lot of what I'm reading online (but mostly from flooring and molding companies) say that putting in t-molding to allow for expansion of the floor due to humidity, etc., is better. We live in the Bay area so humidity isn't much of an issue.

Which do you suggest? Appreciate if others can share recent experience and what you decided to do and why.

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Comments (6)

SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
"Humidity" is the word for moisture in the air. It can mean very high (above 65%) or it can mean low (below 35%). The Bay area has humidity. Every area has a humidity reading. The exterior readings will directly effect the interior readings in your home. A quick google search indicates San Francisco has ranges from a high of 84% down to a low of 59%. Which is to say, "high" no matter how you cook those numbers.

The manufacturer of the hardwood will indicate what is needed for a successful installation. It isn't up to the installer nor the homeowner. It is up to the flooring manufacturer.

Do you have a link to the installation instructions (which you will want to ensure your installer has read)? Do you know how your floor will be installed? Do you know the width of your plank?

Do you have interior humidity readings for your home? Do you know if your home has humidity control (such as a whole home dehumidifier)?
PRO
G & S Floor Service
3 years ago
You are required a t-molding if, the run on the width exceeds 35 ft. A gym floor would require washer rows. Which are gaps that are purposely installed for additional expansion gaps. You can do the same thing if, you do not want a t-molding. Gaps in the floor are not always bad if, it's functional.
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SJ McCarthy, Oana, Thank you both. I did some more research, including calling Kahrs USA and a few local flooring companies. Here is what I learnt - - Kahrs customer service sounded fairly confidence that as long as my total dimension is within the numbers in that installation specification (40feet, 1/2 inch clearance at perimeter) no t-moulding is needed. - Local floor companies also expressed this(no t-moulding) isn't going to be a problem, as much as they are familiar with the business, they are not installation contractors. Then I sketched a my floor plan and drew expansion direction in each room and hallway. I have concluded this is going to be recipe for disaster, unless the expansion rate is really, really small, which i think isn't the case given the required 1/2 gap at the walls : - Assuming each area (rooms, hallway) expansion happens from center and towards walls, I'd have room expansion force, hallway expansion force going against each other at the door, given bedroom is much deeper, likely the stronger expansion force will push the boards in hallway towards the wall opposite of the bedroom, so the movement would be > 3x of the movement if hallway is expanding independently. - I have another room on the other side of the hallway, about 6 feet down, same thing would happen there, only on different side, this would push the hallway into a slight 'S' shape, which would be pretty visible given the hallway is pretty narrow. - Above only count for expansion perpendicular to board direction, the force along the board direction would also be different given hallway is much longer, it might not be a problem if the 'click lock' system allows adjacent board to 'slide' , but if that's not the case, the forces in my case, could rotate the boards at the door for contraction, things would be the same but at opposite direction. combine the seasonal expansion/contraction, my guess would be that in a couple of years I'd either see gaps between boards or the locking loosened. Now I understand why a expansion gap at the door is necessary, basically it absorb opposite movements in different directions. Given we don't want to see the speed bumps on our floor, looks like float-in installation isn't an option for us. Thanks! X.T.
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User
3 years ago
Read the manufacturer’s instructions. Understand and follow them. Document that you followed the requirements.
pkeita
3 years ago
Hi SJ McCarthy, newbie here who also happens to live 2 block from the SF Bay.

Your googled numbers on RH correlate to my Ecobee thermostat.

We have also been looking at installing Engineered flooring, but the max I see

spec'd is 70% relative humidity. If this were adhered to there would be no wood

floors here here...which is obviously not the case.

Is it possible that since the humidity remains in a relatively tight range (with no AC/dehumidifier and little heating) that there are not as much expansion/contraction problems?

Also, since I'm actually on the Peninsula, we are on landfill with high water table...thus have moisture from the ground. Does this all balance out from the subfloor to above the floor all being high moisture?
Jennifer Svensson
3 years ago
What Juneknow said. Many manufacturers leave a warranty but it’s only valid if installed correctly per same manufacturer’s instructions.
Lk
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks, everyone. That's a good point about manufacturer's installation instructions. Will take a close look. Based on comments here and also other things I've read since, seems like t-moldings/transition moldings is the safer way to go.

Engineered hardwood floors - t-molding/transitions or continuous?

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SJ McCarthy

G & S Floor Service

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Engineered hardwood floors - t-molding/transitions or continuous?

Comments (6)

SJ McCarthy

G & S Floor Service

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pkeita

Jennifer Svensson

LkOriginal Author

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