Expansion gap

The solid wood floor fitted in my house is touching walls of the room at each end and is closer than 5mm and touching some parts of the walls widthways. The wood is also touching three of the six radiator pipes, is butted up tightly against both side walls of an archway and is butted up tight to the door frame of the french windows to the garden. The company that supplied & fitted the floor has written guidelines that say there should be an expansion gap of 15mm. When I queried why there was no gap or only a very small gap the company said the wood had expanded after fitting as was expected and as is normal. I have not paid the balance of money owing and the company is taking me to court on 19 August. I have photographs showing the lack of gap but how can I prove that the floor did not expand after fitting as the supplier says? Is it all right for the floor to be touching the walls etc even after expansion? Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

You need to contact Sid Bourne at floorskills. He's a wood expert.

 

out of curiosity have you suggested that the company come back and rectify the issue then youd be happy to pay? if not suggest that to them it wouldnt actually take that long to run round and plunge cut the perimeter of the floor with a plunge saw and use a fein for the trickier cuts, wouldnt have thought the wood would expand by circa 15mm unless there was an underlying cause to make it expand by that much in which case that needs investigating. also id take it that its been bonded to the floor if its a solid did they dpm the subfloor first?

 

When was the floor installed? Are you having any problems with the floor? Excessive creaking, lifting, compression cupping?

The expansion gap is there to allow the timber to expand with raises in seasonal humidity. As we are pretty much at the height of our summer, the timber is likely to have expanded to it's maximum. Expect it to contract come the winter months.

The timber will also expand subject to a co-efficient. How wide is the room? The timber will hardly if at all expand length ways.

 

Hi Ann, I was chatting to you on Facebook

Here are some photos of Ann's floor lads

 

And his favourite programme is Bob the Builder.

 

The solid wood has been glued straight to chipboard.

Ann you best watch the pipes because if no expansion round them then it might push the pipes and cause I leak.

 

Definitely contact Sid Bourne. Tongue left on and butted to wall. Wood expands on the width most with minimal expansion on the length. There's no way the boards in 2nd pic had 15mm between the ends of the tongue and the wall.
Glued direct to chipboard? Not good practice or recommended. What make was the flooring?
Can you get manufacturers installation guidelines?

 

What area are you in ann someone on here may be close to you. You could also check the find a fitter link at top left for a fitter near you to help you out

 

I'm not sure what the court will do. Had a similar situation but it was the customer taking us to court. They refused to have an independent inspector check the work over and therefor they lost the case. A judge can't decide if the floor is fit for purpose or not.

If you have not paid them he is going to want to know why? And with that he would want a professional Independant inspector to check this. You have a much better case if you can get this done and take it to court you. You will be able to claim the expenses back from them if you win

As it stands I think he's going to either make you pay up. Or postpone the case untill it's been inspected. If they have offered to fix it for you but you have decline he will also more than likely make you pay the rest.

Good luck

 

as above you need sid bourne, he has a website if you google it ! as l v t man says in court you will need a report like sid will give you.

 

I was chatting to the lady on Facebook. She is 73 and can't afford to pay for Sid to come out.
Be good if someone local could try and help her out.

 

Where does she live roughly Daz?

 

Roughly what would it cost to get Sid out.

 

Thank you but I did contact him but found I couldn't afford him. It would have cost £350 + travel and he is a long way from Norfolk.

 

The floor was laid in September 2013 onto a chipboard subfloor. It was glued down with Lumberjack. - I contacted the company straightaway in writing and with a visit. Remedial work was promised but never happened.Over the next few months I had 5 inspections of the floor by other local carpenter/floor layers and photographs taken. The company said the other local people were touting for work that didn't need doing and they had decided nothing needed doing as "the floor has expanded as expected". On the company's own guidelines it says a 15mm gap should be left all round. I am worried because other people have told me that the wood shouldn't be touching the structure of my house or the radiator pipes. It is doing both those things and is butted up tight against the door frame to the garden.

 

If the company was found at fault Matt would she be able to Sid's expenses back from them?

 

Sorry that was meant to be claim

 

Thank you for replying. The floor was laid in September 2013 and was touching walls & pipes etc right from the start. The floor was stuck down with Lumberjack onto a chipboard subfloor.There have been no problems with lifting or compression cupping and as far as I can tell there has been no expansion since it was laid and the photographs were taken. The room is 5m x 5m with an archway through to a 3m x 3m section which has french windows leading to the garden. I did not have skirting put in by the company so was aware of the lack of expansion gap from the beginning when my local carpenter came to measure for the skirting. The wood fitted to touch both walls lengthwise and widthwise the gap varies from 5mm to 0mm. The wood touches 3 of the radiator pipes but the other 3 have a reasonable gap.