Something that has always puzzled me. When putting down hardwood and laminate flooring the instructions always say leave 6mm gap all around, I can see how this works with hardwood as it may move but most of the time laminate is stuck to MDF or ply which does not move. And why 6mm, if the room is 3mm wide or 30m wide they still quote 6m, surely if that's needed on a 3m room then 60mm is needed on a 30m room? I would have thought it would practically need to be a % of the room - apart from the fact of needing 60mm skirting of course. Am I missing something here?
It's just to cover there own backs so you don't claim from there guarantee but you would be surprised how much laminate can expand with temperature
I think that is my point really, if you have a room 5m by 5m and it expands just .5% that's 25mm, double the 6mm gap each side so I cant see that it does expand that much, how can plywood move if the ply's are opposite grain? If it does move though logically that means it moves across and against the grain of the applied show timber or laminate, at the same rate and I cant see that happening.
Timber products move in all directions as well as anything made from timber will be effected by moisture regardless to what its stuck to. Generally floors are effected by moisture in certain places like external cold walls, external large doors etc so the actual expansion of material is generally confined to that location and not the entire floor so the given amount of movement is minimal. Heat will also make timber products expand and contract when they cool generally more so all over than localised moisture intrusion. You need to store any timber product in the environment its going to be fitted for at least two weeks prior to installation to acclimatise so the movement, if any, should be minimal. With laminate the flooring pack should be opened to allow the product to acclimatise. Hardwood I leave for at least three weeks but generally specify a month.
It has nothing to do with the proportions of the room. It is just that a laminated or hardwood flooring usually expands with time. So it is advisable to have some space around to incur the expansion. For this purpose 6mm is best suited so as to allow for expansion whilst still allowing to walk on the floor without your feet getting stuck in the gap.
Clearly solid wood floor will move but as I said if your room is 3m wide and it moves say just .5% then that is 15mm, 3mm over the two 6mm gaps, if it is 30m wide it will move 150mm, as we know this is the reason for V joints but still the 6mm surrounding gap does not seem enough. In addition why are the manufactures expecting the wood to expand? It could shrink even after being left to acclimatise with central heating etc.
First of all, what you have considered here is that whole of the 3m wide room that you are talking about is been laid out using a single piece of wood. A plank having twice the width to a small plank, expands twice as well. So if you want to delve into the measurements, you should consider a plank size first. Secondly, there is no such thing like acclimatise cause wood expands in summers and shrinks in winter and that too according to the amount of ventilation and moisture in the environment. 6mm is a general barometer laid down by the manufacturers that even a simple flooring man could understand to use without getting into the math.
Plank size has nothing to do with it, if a 100mm plank moves 1% that's 1mm, multiply that by two and its the same as a 200mm plank moving 1%, 2mm. If there is no advantage in acclimatising solid wood floors why do the manufactures recommend it? As Handy Andy said you may need to rethink your statement as it is the complete opposite to what I was taught 35 years ago. 6mm is suggested by the manufacturer my question is why?
I didn't say we shouldn't acclimatise before using. I just said when already applied we shouldn't wait for it to acclimatise any more because the wood expands and shrinks according to the room conditions after its laid already.
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