Luckily proper hardwood floor maintenance can help avoid gaps from forming.
How to repair gaps in wood floors.
Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps.
If you cannot fix the problem by installing a humidifier you may need to take more drastic action when it comes to filling wide gaps.
The shrinkage causes gaps in the flooring especially in older homes.
This type of cracking is considered normal for hardwood and no filler method will hold up unless the proper humidity is maintained.
How floorboard gaps develop.
Another exacerbating condition is water damage.
Over time wood flooring has a tendency to shrink.
Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out.
Apply filler liberally with either your fingers or a putty knife allowing for some overfill.
Here are some tips on wood floor maintenance and how to fix gaps should they appear.
3 steps to fix hardwood floor gaps.
Once the filler has dried you can sand and complete the filling process by stain where needed.
Homes with wood floors should use a humidifier to help shrinkage due to low humidity.
Filling large gaps in old wood floors.
Slight gaps are normal but if the gap is wide enough to fit the end of a nickel into repairs are necessary.
Bear in mind though that you may need to do a.
There are many different ways to go about correcting this type of issue but we will dive into the most common.
With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content.
Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair.
Why you should avoid putty fillers.
Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes.
The first step is to clean out any debris that may in between the gaps.