Floating Floor Tips - How To Plan for Expansion and Contraction
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.พ. 2018
- Floating floors are DIY friendly, but here's some common mistakes people make. In this short video, we explain how to plan for natural floor movement by utilizing expansion space and t-moldings.
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You just saved me as I have barely started installing mine! Thank you so much!
Critical information for any brand of floating floor installation. Thank you so much!
Thanks Ronen! An ounce of prevention...
This was a really helpful video!! Informative, easy to understand & excellent graphics. Thank you!
Awesome! So glad it was helpful to you!
Best video on floating wood planks I’ve seen yet.👍 No more uncertainty. Nail/staples is definitely a better method or do vinyl/laminate planks to float. Not a big fan of glueing planks to floor unless you have no other choice.
Thanks for the props!
Excellent video!
this was very helpful!!!!!
Awesome video!
Thanks Dillon!
Insanely helpful guys; thank you!
Our pleasure!
Lumber Liquidators installed my engineered hardwood floating floors. All rooms make popping and crushing sounds. LL said noises would stop but only getting worse.
Rosa Curtis this is why I do it myself
I just want everyone to know I’ve installed laminate vinyl real hardwood even tile. The thing you want and it’s important is at least a half inch space from all walls for the floor to expanded it’s important the baseboard will cover the cap and hold the floor down. Next I want people to start putting T transition peace’s in all doorways and closets even if you can continue the flooring into another room without using a transition peace id recommend still leaving that cap between rooms. Next I hate when I hear people say the floors too squeaky and makes cracking sounds. That’s normal because the floor is not secured when you walk on it it’s slightly moving from your weight . You want this any floor that tight and can’t move will buckle once winter or summer hits. Gluing two planks together is okay but not too the floor let the floor float it’ll last longer.
George hates shrinkage..
1/2 inch expansion spacing
I'm looking at buying some vinyl flooring from you to do a floating floor. Would you recommend gluing pieces together lik in the video?
Vinyl flooring has click-lock milling and doesn't require glue. Also, most of the precautions in this video apply to wood flooring, not vinyl.
It can vary a bit between collections, but here's essentially the vinyl floating technique: th-cam.com/video/xEcabwxtGIk/w-d-xo.html
Does it expand to all directions? So far I know it expand mostly in the vertical side
Yes, it expands and contracts in all directions but you only typically have issues such as buckling and gapping along the long edges.
I’ve been installing for 10 years, nwfa says MOST of the expansion is in the tongue direction on the long side of the planks
I just bought Cali Bamboo Engineered flooring. I was told to glue it down. Will all this expansion still take place?
Hi Rocky, with glue downs there is significantly less expansion. We do however still recommend the expansion gap around fixed objects regardless of installation method.
SO all around the wall we should keep 1/2 inch space for expansion?
Yes, around all walls and any fixed objects like pipes, columns, cabinets.
Good luck with that. Especifically if the baseboard is 1/2. And Show molding is a No in the project.
Hello, my house is going for Reno, so which one should install 1st? The SPC flooring or Furniture 1st? Hear from your reply soon. Thank you
Fun times! I would try to hold off installing the flooring for as long as possible. If you can wait until just before staging (furniture replacement) beven better. If you do end up putting the new floors down sooner than later, make sure to protect them with ram board.
Is this info true as well for laminate, or just 100% real wood floors?
I have to admit I know next to nothing about laminate, but as long as it reacts to moisture similar to wood, following these recommendations certainly wouldn't hurt, they might just be overkill.
Yes always have expansion gap
@@CaliFloors they aren't overkill. Every professional or experienced hardwood installer does it that way, if its tight than you hired a dumbass, or you're a dumbass
How do I fix loose planks in the center of a room? My kids are always runing around and now some planks slide around leaving big gaps. They are too loose now. If I shorten the space at the edges to reduce the overall gap between planks then I run the risk of planks lifting/warping during expansion.
Our support team can give you some suggestions. Email customersupport@calibamboo.com
Can this be used in a kitchen with refrigerator sitting on the floor?
A fridge is probably over 500 lbs. so you'll want keep in mind that the flooring under the fridge could be pinned down. You may want to consider glueing down or nailing down.
Would a country in Asia without huge climate change do without expansion gaps?
Think of expansion gaps as insurance against buckling and gapping. The more you have the less likely anything will go wrong with the floor. With small or no expansion gaps, you're vulnerable and any unusual weather event can cause your floor to fail. The gaps can be covered up with trim and molding so there's really no good reason why you wouldn't choose to include them in your installation.
So, what about a refrigerator?
Most fridges are under the limit.
There's a few ridiculous claims though, like 500lb limit on furniture. Any type of solid wood armoire with books in it will be heavier than 500lbs so I don't know how that's even realistic.
Hi, thanks for the comment. It just means the floating method is not ideal if you have heavy furniture. The weight will inhibit proper expansion and contraction. In this case, you would want to nail down (T&G) or glue down (Click-lock) the flooring.
WTF !!!! Floating floor sucks.... what if I put a king size bed with heavy wood framing...I'm screwed .... No Floating floors for me neither
Hi Tommy, we agree, sometimes floating a floor won't work. Luckily you can nail-down or glue-down any of our floors. Rest assured, it's big 'ol heavy bed compatible. 😴
I do flooring installation for about 12 years I do not recommend bamboo floating .
That's a lot of floors laid! You're right, floating bamboo in certain climates can get tricky and requires a lot of preinstallation preparation, but it's not impossible. Thanks for the comment Wesley!
@@CaliFloors what about california? We aren't really that humid, we are dry as a weasel 90% of the time.
nice, lets not have any furniture???
Hi Misha, if you have furniture that's over 500 pounds you wan't to glue down or nail down the flooring.