Cork Floor Expansion Gap

They have not been tested for use between floor boards although they may help to fill gaps between floor boards if required.

Cork floor expansion gap.

Normally a space of between 10 and 15mm it s not a huge amount of space but it s enough to help prevent problems with wood flooring when it expands and contracts. This leads to buckling or floor planks bending off of the subfloor and into the air. And like all natural materials cork expands and contracts with changes in weather. Each piece may only move a little but that adds up over the width of an entire room.

Even though wood flooring used is no longer living and breathing it still reacts to moisture changes in the environment. This is a floor in trouble. These cork expansion strips have been designed for use around the perimeter of the room. An expansion gap is a term used when fitting wooden flooring.

These 20mm x 15mm strips simply fit into your expansion gap providing a look that is more visually pleasing than a visible emptiness. Planks can expand as much as one inch in every direction. Expansion gaps are spaces left around the perimeter of rooms against fixed objects such as columns thresholds hearths baseboard and other stationary items built or secured into the framing structure of the home. The cork expansion strips compensate for the work of the floor and provide strain relief in places where there may be warping and deformation of the surface.

We usually think of gaps as a bad thing. This allows your wooden floor to naturally expand against the cork when required. The great advantage of using cork strips is their soft spongy texture. Vitrex cork expansion strips 0 6m x 12 5mm 18 pack questions page 2.

The cork is used to fill it as this material isn t only an aesthetic finish on the floor but also plays a very important roll it absorbs all stresses related to floor work. This result is the laminate flooring will expanding and contract as the temperature and humidity change. This cumulative effect requires you to leave a 1 2 inch space around the perimeter of the flooring. It is an essential gap that must be left around the edge of the room when fitting hardwood bamboo or laminate flooring.

It s the same with solid and engineered wood floors. The term expansion gap when used in conjunction with wood flooring refers to the space left around the edges of a room when a floor is fitted. But when properly used expansion gaps can relieve the pressure from heat expansion that can affect a floating floor before it meets an immovable vertical obstruction like a wall a doorpost an installed cabinet or a supporting column. Temperature and humidity will change in all rooms.

Why gaps are important. A cork floor laid in a moisture laden room such as a basement without expansion gaps can have a catastrophic effect. The expansion gap should be around the whole perimeter of the room wherever the flooring may be against fixed objects such as walls doorways radiator pipes and fireplaces. Of course for a finished appearance you ll want to hide that expansion gap.

Expansion gaps are essential in all laminate floor installations.