Floor Boards Separating In Winter

If it was that big of gaps all over i would say it would not be normal.

Floor boards separating in winter.

I usually try to keep my house around 40 in the winter. In some cases these changes in the floor don t occur until years after installation. It is normal in the winter month for gaps to increase in general because the humidity in your house is lower and causes the wood to contract. A 5 inch wide plank will shrink twice as much as a 2 inch strip.

Be sure to use natural rope such as jute or cotton because synthetic rope won t accept a stain. The wood shrinks because it loses moisture and gaps. Cracks and separations can be alarming to the proud owner of a new hardwood floor especially when it looks nearly flawless in the summertime when by winter some noticeable cracking and separating of the floor boards appear. During winter months complaints usually start trickling in.

They weren t there in the summer solid 3 4 hardwoods will expand and contract with seasonal changes in moisture. While the rope doesn t look like wood you can stain it to blend with the floorboards and the filled gaps will be much less noticeable than the dark empty gaps. Filling large gaps with natural fiber rope is a traditional method commonly used on wide plank floorboards in very old homes. Almost every wood floor will show some separation between boards particularly in the winter months when homes are heated and the air is dry.

Often it s a floor owner concerned with new hardwood floors separating or gapping.