Three tips to cure cracks in your timber floors

posted: 04/Jun/2015

Beautiful one day, perfect the next – that’s the story of a Queensland winter, but  is it the same story for a timber floor during the same period?

Have you wondered why cracks or gaps appear between your timber floor boards during winter? After months of a Queensland steamy summer the humidity declines and the drier months arrive causing even the most carefully installed timber floors to dry out or shrink.  This is one of the natural, beautiful properties of timber – essentially it’s a living building product!  Moisture content in our environment affects expansion and shrinkage - in high humidity, boards expand, in low humidity, boards shrink.

Minor gapping does not detract from a floors appearance and should be accepted (exceptionally large cracks may indicate the floor has not been installed correctly). However, the average homeowner would prefer floors that have a consistent look year round so the question remains - how can you cure the cracks?

Follow these simple tips and you will notice a change.

1. Add moisture to the air.

Simple actions such as opening the dishwasher after a rinse cycle, switching off the bathroom fan or placing a bucket of water in a room can make a real difference.

2. Use the right flooring.

The width of a floor board can impact the size of cracks ie the wider the board the bigger the gap.   If your flooring consists of wider planks, your gaps will be proportionately wider. The wood will shrink the same percentage, but the actual dimension of the crack will necessarily be wider. Planks twice as wide will produce gaps that are twice as wide.

3. Install a humidifier.

If you use heating regularly a good option is to create moisture by using a portable humidifier .

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