It’s that time of year again in the Denver Rocky Mountains area, when we start to see cracks in Hardwood Floors. With Hardwood Flooring this is both seasonal and common.
Wood Flooring, being a product of nature, has some water in it, all of the time.
The moisture in the hardwood changes as the moisture in the environment changes. When the ambient air dries out, the wood dries out and shrinks. This can cause cracks in a hardwood floor.
Cold winter weather hits hard wood floors twice. When temperatures drop home owners turn on their heating systems and keep doors and windows closed.
The heat dries out the home and the moisture is pulled from the wood floor which causes the wood to shrink and cracks to appear.
This can be somewhat minimized by having a humidifier attached to the heating system.
Wood burning stoves are especially bad for drying out inside air as well as areas directly around furnaces, heating ducts and base board heaters.
The second factor that can effect your hardwood floor is when the air temperature falls below freezing. Most of the moisture falls out of the air as snow, frost, or ice.
So, when we get a long cold spell with ice or snow we experience a lot more shrinkage and cracking in wood floors.
As temperature and humidity changes occur in summer, seasonal cracking should remedy itself. As moisture returns back into to the air moisture is also absorbed back into the hardwood floor. Expansion occures and wood floors return to their original state, as before the winter season.
It is recommended that you do not fill your wood floor throughout the winter months.
When the wood floor expands again in the summer, the wood will either force out the excess fill or boards will warp. Wood must go somewhere as it expands and the force of this expansion could be significant.
It is important to know that this shrinkage is not a flaw in the wood or an installation related problem.
If you desire additional information concerning hardwood flooring seasonal movement please contact us!