Browse Forums General Discussion Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 23Jun 13, 2011 9:09 am I can't find in your posts what type of finish they used on the floor. For how long were the boards acclimatising inside your house before they were installed? What glue they used (the 2 flexible glues that I've seen used are almost brown, even when they dry out, and not this white like yours). Have they checked the moisture contents of the timber before installing? Do you have any actual cracking in the boards themselves, or are these just the gaps in between the boards? Anyway, I think it's a combination of factors. Firstly, the boards were most likely too moist when laid (this doesn't necessarily mean that they were delivered that moist; they could have expanded a tiny bit (even during installation) due to the rains and the water problem under the house - which means that they have to shrink in the future). Secondly, Tassie oak is one of the species that has a great tendency to shrink (and expand) - it's not that stable. You will almost always get some gaps in a Tassie oak floor. Thirdly, it seems like you have edge bonding (= cracks only after a clump of boards, ie. not after every or every other board) - which might mean that they might have used a polyurethane finish (instead of a more flexible finish) OR the glue was not a flexible type (or both of these) OR they actually pushed glue in between the boards too . Normally, you would have (clean, no glue) gaps in between every board or so. (Polyurethane finish should never be used on brand new floors.) What can you do about it? Perhaps see who is the timber flooring insepction body in your state and get them to have an initial look and give you some initial verbal advice if you have a case or not. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 24Jun 13, 2011 9:41 am Lex It is the bona traffic finish (water based poly). The boards weren't acclimatised in the house before laying. They were down for several months before the finish was applied. I don't think it is glue that you can see. It is the finish where the boards have shrunk/moved away from it. Some of the cracks are just clean- you can't see where the finish has broken away IFYKWIM. All the cracks are between the boards. The floor rep and builder will be here tomorrow so I will see what they say. I do have a number for someone who can do an independent inspection. I guess my biggest question is what can actually be done about it?? Can it be fixed or would they need ripping up? Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 25Jun 13, 2011 10:30 am The only way this can be "fixed" (ie. not really fixed) is by covering the gaps. Sometimes, for very large gaps (but I'd say in older floors only) they insert some splits of the same timber species to cover the wide gaps. Or, for younger floors, maaaybe some caulking colours - but this would be pushed out once/if the timber starts expanding. You don't want to interfere too much with new/young floors, as they have to go thru much more movement than older floors (even though the movement never really stops, but it does become smaller with age). The real way to fix is to replace the floor (if it's warranted). BUT, I would be really interested to see if/how can that be done on a large scale (ie. not just a few boards here and there), considering it's glued to the chipboard-style subfloor (and secret nailed). Undoing the glue would cause some damage to the subfloor . Unless any damage to the subfloor can be easily repaired ... BTW, makes sense re. Bona (and not the glue) showing up ... it's white . It's just that the pic is so magnified that it gets hard to see what is what My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 26Jun 13, 2011 11:21 am The cracking sections are in the section of the house where it is over the joists so that may make it easier to remove them if necessary?? Will update how I go tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone. I feel a little more informed as to what it could be and questions to ask. Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 27Jun 14, 2011 8:25 pm Thought I would update... Builder and rep from flooring supplier came. Both agreed it's not right. Floor supplier is sending someone else who knows more. No one really knew what the actual cause is. Floor guy was going to check the moisture content from the order document. So will have to wait and see what happens! Thanks everyone for your input. Donna Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 28Jun 14, 2011 8:45 pm Good luck Donna. You got a better answer than us. Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 29Jul 21, 2011 2:00 pm Hi Thought I would update. Someone came out from the timber supplier and they brought a floor sander with them. They think it is edge bonding! They measured moisture content and the gaps. The gaps were consistent in size with individual shrinking pulling at one spot. The suggested fix is to wait until after summer then fill and repolish the boards. They did pick out a strip of two boards with a bad crack and fill them and repolish them as a bit of a test spot to see how well the fill lasts. They did this while I was out of town last week. The filled section looks ok but it appears they have used a different finish as it is not as glossy. The original finish is Bona traffic satin. I think they may have used the IP finish. My builder is trying to confirm. Also the boards after the first polish still had a lot of texture in them (not smooth to touch). The 2 boards that have just been redone are totally smooth. Should they have been smooth to begin with? If they weren't sanded back enough in the first place could this have increased the chance of edge bonding? What would happen if they were resanded without being refilled? Not confident in the fill staying over time? Does anyone have any other possible solutions? Thanks Donna Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 30Jul 21, 2011 4:34 pm Yep, clumps and then a gap ... I am a bit surprised to hear of such quite serious case of edge bonding with Traffic!! Anyway. What did they use as "fill"? The type of material can make a difference in how well it stays put. I'm glad that they didn't rush and resand your floor this soon. It's better to let the floor go through at least 1 full year (even more) and then "attack" it if it's still that bad. Although, if they "played" with some spot filling, perhaps won't be a bad idea to make it all the same again, but probably without any coarser sanding, just enough to recoat. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 32Jul 21, 2011 8:04 pm Timbermate is great. But, as the boards keep moving in the future, it will crack and some of it will get out of the gaps (eventually). It's not that great to fill the actual gaps between the boards (because of the movement). However, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a floor and unless everything on and above that floor is absolutely sleek and spotless, this small imprefection should not matter (although it can be very annoying to look at it every day! ). Most of the time guests won't notice it at all, it's only us, the owners, who will constantly keep looking at all those many "eyesores" and get stressed My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 33Jul 22, 2011 1:58 pm Sorry donnam, I'm not going to offer any advice as I have no idea why it's happening. But I will offer up our experience & say that prior to installing our Sydney Bluegum floorboards in our previous house, we were advised by the timber supplier against using polyurethane because the floorboards were likely to split. We went with tung oil instead. My 1 cent worth anyhoo Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 34Jul 23, 2011 10:19 pm Lex whilst most people won't notice our floor it is quite noticeable walking around in bare feet. The cracks (there's a lot of them) are quite rough Southies- can you tell me more about tung oil. The floor guy the other day was not giving it a good rap at all. How did it hold up and how was the maintainance? Ta Donna Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 36Jul 24, 2011 9:59 am donnam Southies- can you tell me more about tung oil. The floor guy the other day was not giving it a good rap at all. How did it hold up and how was the maintainance? Well I am soooo surprised by his comment ! We loved it. Maybe he should have been more specific about why he wasn't happy with it We opted against p/u because of the 'splitting' issue & particularly because of the need to RE-SAND & RE-POLISH after a few years $$$$$ We had the flooring in our family room which was under daily attack by 3 primary-aged kidlets. We certainly wanted something that would withstand that kind of punishment. With tung oil, the high traffic areas just got duller & duller over time, though no scratches. It meant that we needed to apply tung oil to those areas every year to bring out the shine, again. But this was a matter of only dipping a string mop in a bucket of tung oil & slopping it on the required areas - 1 hour to dry & VOILA! a new floor. Just like washing the floor. We certainly did not need to do the entire floored area, just where it was required. Very easy process & certainly cheaper a totally stressless as opposed to re-sanding & re-polishing the entire area I would DEFINITELY use tung oil again, if given the choice. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 37Jul 24, 2011 12:28 pm Wow, that's certainly good to hear, Southies!! We were strongly swayed away from using oil-type of coatings. We were told that they will show your foot prints (I guess if you walked bare-foot, which we actually never do), and that it would remain oily for quite some time and a nuisance to upkeep as every year we'd have to remove all the furiture in order to re-apply it, etc, etc, heaps of negative stuff. Obviously, solvent-based P/U is a no-no for new floors ... so we went with water based ... Anyway, my stairs are nothing like these guys told me it would be. In fact, they look as if there is a shiny thick coat of P/U!! But I'm pretty sure that it is indeed tung oil. Which would be great so that I can rejuvenate them where needed (although with stairs, it would be easier to re-apply to the whole step, not just where it's worn out). My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: cracking between floor boards- is this normal 38Jul 24, 2011 1:02 pm Lex We were told that they will show your foot prints (I guess if you walked bare-foot, which we actually never do), and that it would remain oily for quite some time and a nuisance to upkeep as every year we'd have to remove all the furiture in order to re-apply it, etc, etc, heaps of negative stuff. Quote: Anyway, my stairs are nothing like these guys told me it would be. In fact, they look as if there is a shiny thick coat of P/U!! Quote: Which would be great so that I can rejuvenate them where needed Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade To put anything over slate you will need to put self level compound over the entire area as slate various in thickness and is very un even. To install most types of… 1 1093 Yes, get a builder, make sure he is experienced and a registered building practitioner 5 9306 |