Another Flooring Question

Hi all

Is it considered necessary to undercut the bottoms of door frames when fitting a floating wood floor? The various sites on this subject mention architraves and skirting (which are to be fitted later in my case) but none seem to cover the dorr frame itself. Maybe it's such a short length, expansion isn't considered relevant. I would rather not cut the frames, as some of them have repairs to the bottom 6". The room being considered is a hallway 3m x 1.5m.

TIA

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster
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TheScullster wibbled on Friday 23 October 2009 16:43

I'd (and have done previously) just trim the architrave.

This is easily done with either a Fein (etc) or an offset handsaw.

It makes it easier to cut the flooring (one rectangular cut is easier than a wibbly cut) and looks neater, even if some of the cut is on show (on the frame face in your example).

As long as you leave the required expansion gap, you can do what you like. Another solution is to find some silicon that closely matches your floor and fill any gaps that annoy you with that. You won't really notice after that.

Reply to
Tim W

i was ponderinhg this very thing re expansion gaps in small areas of laminate/floated floor and wondered if you couldn't actually reduce the expansion gap requirement for small areas- ideally to a couple of mm say?? from memory (so far) I think laminate asks for a 10mm gap at the edges, but what area is this designed to deal with the expansion of 20m2 40m2?? if so what would happen if i reduced the expansion gap proportionately with smaller areas?

anyone tried it?

cheers JimK

Reply to
JimK

JimK wibbled on Friday 23 October 2009 16:53

Yes, you could in principle.

But remember to factor in that that entire section of floor may wish to move en-bloc due to over expansion.

Reply to
Tim W

come again?

cheers JimK

Reply to
JimK

Tim W wibbled on Friday 23 October 2009 17:06

^^^ overall

Reply to
Tim W

JimK wibbled on Friday 23 October 2009 17:10

"overall expansion"

If the floor expands 8mm across the whole room and you doorway is in the corner, the bit of flooring in the door way will not just expand, but will slide too, perhaps by a few mm, as it's pushed by the rest of the floor expanding.

Reply to
Tim W

I would think the 10mm figure means nothing without knowing the area.

Reply to
Stuart Noble

Stuart Noble wibbled on Friday 23 October 2009 17:34

IIRC the quoted expansion ratio on my wood floor came to about 10mm over a mid sized room (3m long into the alcove). I don't think the wood will

*ever* move this much[1] so 10mm is probably a reasonable rule of thumb, unless your room is tiny or massive. 10mm is also a comfortable amount for hiding under skirting. [1] I bet it's measured between rainforest and Saharan conditions to cover the makers. That's my take anyway... I've had damp days, dry days, hot and cold conditions and I really haven't seen it move much at all...
Reply to
Tim W

Wot Tim said.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Laminate flooring is regularly sold with instructions insisting on a 10mm or greater gap, but they forget several things.

As you say, it depends on the area. Assuming laminate can expand by 10%, thats 10mm on a metre wide hallway, or 50mm on a 5 metre lounge. The latter never ever happens.

In many cases the beading supplied can't cover a 10mm gap, let alone a 50mm gap.

Most important, it depends on the humidity at the time you are laying it. I've spent the last 3 days building a deck & its been pissing down. Instead of the suggested 8mm gap between boards, I used a 5mm gap. The boards are never going to have a higher moisture content than they have now.

Certainly, with a 5 metre deck board you can access the moisture content by the weight of the bloody things - a wet board is 'considerably' heavier than a dry board.

When I lay laminate I use a single plastic spacer - around 5mm? Never had a problem. I've only ever found one laminate floor (3 years ago) that had bulged, that was in a rented property and the floor had no expansion gap at all. I lifted the end boards & trimmed them by around 5mm & its been perfect ever since.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Except that it can take several months for the MC inside the board to adjust to ambient conditions, and this happens through water vapour rather than surface water, which mostly evaporates. That said, decking boards are normally stored outside by merchants, so the basic moisture content is already established long before you get them.

Reply to
Stuart Noble

I've seen up to 10mm total over a 12 meter run.

Obviously less on smaller spaces, to the point where a couple of mm and some flexible sealant solves the problem

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Its very much a worst case. I laid a huge area - tow rooms with about

12x6 meters - with virtiually no gap at all. In summer the humidity was up and the flooring burbled up. A few minutes work with a jigsaw at the critical door frame let it all flop down again.
Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I would totally agree wit the above, except that although its damp now outside, most people are running CH. The driest time of year INDOORS is winter, the most humid is summer. Right now I'd say you would be halfway between driest and wettest indoor-wise.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Are you fitting natural wood? Natural wood expands/shrinks a lot more across the grain than with the grain, so board orientation is a factor.

mark

Reply to
mark

Good point. I guess laminate moves n both directions.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Real wood Laminate is approximately homogeneous in movement.

Its held to the along the grain figure. By my reckoning its less than

0.1% over typical indoor humidity variations.

Real Wood (TM) is at least five times that across the grain. It's even worse on a tangentially sawn board (the most attractive cut)

So my figures are about 0.1% along the grain, 0.5% in a radial direction to the original bole and about 1% on a tangentially sawn direction.

You can multiply those figures by 10 for fully green to 'indoor dry' if you ever use green oak.. I've got some 12" wide beams that have shrunk

3/4" across after 9 years.
Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Beacuse 10% is a gross over-assumption. It makes the rest of the post totally meaningless

MBQ

Reply to
Man at B&Q

A minor point:

10% would be 100mm on 1m and 500mm on 5m

mark

Reply to
mark

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