[Toller]

I moved into a 6 year old house about 4 months ago. There are some gaps in the hardwood floor. I didn't notice them before, could they get bigger seasonally?

Sorry about the lousy photograph, but it is probably good enough.
This is much bigger than any other gaps, but there are lots of small ones.
Can I fill them in with wood filler? Or maybe I should wait until August and fill any gaps in then?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Seattle2k]

I moved into a 6 year old house about 4 months ago. There are some gaps in the hardwood floor. I didn't notice them before, could they get bigger seasonally?

Sorry about the lousy photograph, but it is probably good enough.
This is much bigger than any other gaps, but there are lots of small ones.
Can I fill them in with wood filler? Or maybe I should wait until August and fill any gaps in then?
Any advice would be appreciated.

You can fill the cracks with wood filler. If the wood contracts, you'll need to add more. If the wood expands, it will push out the filler. It will likely be an ongoing battle. Even with the quarter, it's a bit hard to tell how big the gap is. Still, makes me wonder what caused it in the first place. Could have been that the wood wasn't properly acclimated before installing. I wouldn't worry about it much though.

 

[joecaption]

Never add wood filler!! It will cause the floor to buckle.
Somethings very wrong with that floor to have it pull apart like that.
I wonder if someone tryed just gluing it down instead of nailing or stapling it.
What's under for a subfloor?

 

[tacomahardwood.]

Gapping at the end of the board looks like it wasn't nailed , Try taking a soft rubber shoe on your foot and kick it together, If it moves , Guess what ? It wasn't nailed , And secondly that is some strange looking wood , Are you sure it's not and engineered floor ? Look into the vents or some where where you can see the end cut ,See if it has a veneer , It down't really matter at this point it ia what it is , So here's what you do if #1 You kick it and it tightens up .... Shoot as few nails as you can with a small 18 guage , Or 16 gauge nailer , The 18 are the thinner naile but may bend , Be thoughtfull abd put the nailes in a grain pattern
#2 If it is a floating engineered floor , Then kick it together with some glue on the joints .# 3 If it will not move and seems to be nail down , it could be happeneing if you have a heat pump , Which is very dry air . The way to remedy is see if the heat pump can be adjusted to a higher humidity , And last but not least use oil based color putty , The floor may shrink or expand again and you will have to do color [putty maintenance , But this is the reality of this floor right now , Or just do some color putty maintenance once oin a while and live with it ,
And if you have a wood stove ..Put a tea pot on it for the winter , And get the tea pot going before this happens next winter ,

 

[Toller]

The gap is about 5/32". None of the other gaps are more than 1/16". I can live with them, but this 5/32" is pretty bad.
It is Mohawk Siberian Oak, solid wood; 5/8" thick. (I asked them what Siberian Oak was, and they told me it was white oak; though it doesn't look like white oak to me)

I tried gently moving a piece with a pry bar, where the piece had a gap on either end. It wouldn't move; though I didn't want to use much force.

We have a humidifier on the furnace, but it is still pretty dry; any more humid and condensation forms on the windows.

I have extra pieces and could cut a 1/8" piece and slip it in. Would that be better than filler? I couldn't do that with the smaller gaps, but they aren't so bad.

 

[joecaption]

Any idea who installed it and how it was installed?
If it was mine I'd remove the 1/4 have someone stand on the floor just past where the gap is and use one of these to try and tap it back in place.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...8675BD7E943600E8&qpvt=Laminate+Flooring+Tools

Any box store will have them. Do not buy the cheap one with the Pergo sticker on it.

 

[tacomahardwood.]

It looks like whitewash oak , Or it has a water based finish , But it looks different then white oake finished ,SOOOO . The small cut Idea is Ok , Just glue it with Elmers wood glue and use water clean up as you go , You will only get 1 cu per toungue end , Unless you plain the bottom off , Make sure to chop saw cut it slow . So you don;t fray the little pieces or they will look worse , You could also Mix 2 colors of color putty and break up the solid putty look on the big gaps . It won't last forever But onother way is to put water base caulk in the really big gaps .Mix a couple colors Wipe it with water.it will shrink and you may have to do it again , Before you get very far with any test color putty or caulk mix . Just do a small area out of the main area and make sure you are satisfied

 

[tacomahardwood.]

What Joecaption said could work , I would add ,, IF there is a place where the base mold could be removed nearby , Then try that also ,Hook the tool where the base goes , Just cusion the existing floor so the wacki doesn't dent it

 

[Toller]

Any idea who installed it and how it was installed?
If it was mine I'd remove the 1/4 have someone stand on the floor just past where the gap is and use one of these to try and tap it back in place.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...8675BD7E943600E8&qpvt=Laminate+Flooring+Tools

Any box store will have them. Do not buy the cheap one with the Pergo sticker on it.

It is right next to a cabinet, so it is in a good place to try this.

 

[DannyT]

is this floor solid 3/4 inch thick hardwood or is it engineered wood flooring>?

 

[zakany]

I didn't notice them before, could they get bigger seasonally?... Or maybe I should wait until August and fill any gaps in then?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Gaps certainly can come and go seasonally, due to humidity differences.

What I would do is measure and record the gap every month for the next year, to document how much and when it changes. That information will help you remedy the situation best.

 

[Awoodfloorguy]

Gaps are common in the winter months while running your heat as wood floors dry out. However, since this is really just in this area and its near a cabinet they probably did not nail it because they were not able to get a nailer in to nail it. I would just remove the baseboard, try to pull it together as the other guys said and then maybe add a couple of top nails to it. Then just putty the nail holes. Hopefully this will help.

 

[Toller]

is this floor solid 3/4 inch thick hardwood or is it engineered wood flooring>?

5/8" solid wood