Originally Posted By: kweiss This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I had a warranty inspection today at a nice house with extensive hand-scraped wood floors on a concrete slab. The homeowner pointed out a concern with the floors involving large gaps along the length of the boards at certain intervals throughout the floor.
These gaps are evenly spaced, typically about 3 feet, but vary in width even along the length of a single gap from 1/8" to about 3/16". The edges of the boards at these gaps are very rough and have lots of splinters (a big concern to the homeowner and their little kids.)
The builder has been very responsive to all their repair requests, it is a large expensive custom home, but has told them, and apparently the whole neighborhood who have the same problem, that these gaps are for expansion, but that they can come in and simply refinish them somehow to fix the splinters and roughness problems.
I am not a flooring expert, but I have always heard that you allow for expansion at the walls where you can cover the gap with trim. I have never noticed a case like this where there are supposed expansion joints all through the floor layout.
Has anyone heard of this? Is this a common practice for some types of wood floors? Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of it, as a picture would not show much, and I do not know the specifics of the type of floor (though I could find them out.)
Originally Posted By: bking This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
That is a problem, wood floors have been installed for many years that don’t have those gaps, no reason to believe they need gaps now. Wood floors do not like conditions that are too dry or too humid. The best method is to install them when the wood has a lower moisture content. If they are stored and installed in a humid environment then gaps will almost always appear depending on the thickness of the wood. The thicker they are the more shrinkage you get. Not sure what effect the slab moisture and possible concrete shrinkage cracking will have, depends on how they are installed. Builder may need to remove a board at each gap and install a slightly wider one to correct.
Originally Posted By: kweiss This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I do not believe this is a case of random wood shrinkage. The spacing of the wide cracks across the rooms is too uniform. They are uniform enough that I believe that they were installed that way. My question would be if that is a typical or accepted installation method, having the expansion gaps in the middle rather than at the edges under the wall trim.
Originally Posted By: bking This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I would not think any homebuyer would agree to that type of installation. I also would think that a builder would discuss this beforehand if it had to be done. Just a case of the builder passing on the info that the flooring installer gave him. The builder knows it is wrong. If he fixes it for one buyer then he knows that he will have to fix it for all buyers eventually, if they are in the same neighborhood.
Lots of problems these days with wood floors since they are so popular and many installers do not check the MC and condition the home before installing. Too dry or too humid can cause problems. If this was their insurance against having problems, they made a huge mistake. No homeowner wants gaps in their wood floors. 
Originally Posted By: mcyr This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Kevin;
I have to agree with Bruce on this one.
There is no indicator here at all that would convince me that this situation is normal.
Most hardwood floors pre-finished or finished in the field provide no splinters or gaps as you describe. Most hardwood floors are installed with a moisture content of between 9 and 11% moisture and controlled from the time it is delivered to the time it is installed. Moisture content has to be controlled after the installation also.
Gaps of that magnitude as you explain is not normal. I strongly recommend further evaluation from a reputable flooring installer. (preferably a hardwood installer).
