Timber Flooring Installation

How To Facilitate A Worry-Free Timber Flooring Installation

There are home owners who would like to retain a natural feel to their residence. Thus, they use materials that blend well with natural surroundings and timber is the closest thing to nature that can be used. However, timber flooring installation is not as easy as you think. Since it is a natural material, you have to consider that it has certain tendencies depending on weather conditions.

Considerations before timber flooring installation

The basic consideration for installing timber on the floor is that the material is susceptible to moisture. Timber absorbs moisture so that it stays in balance with the atmospheric conditions. When it does absorb more moisture, it has the tendency to expand and it can disrupt the flatness of the floor area. It can also cause damage to the flooring since it can take up the space of the other timber pieces.

Likewise, timber can shrink when it loses moisture. If all of the timber pieces that you used will shrink, gaps in between the pieces will appear and the strength of the floor lessens. For these reasons, changes in the moisture level in an area must be accounted for before the timber is installed. For starters, the timber must be installed according to the correct moisture content at the time of installation.

Since heat can sap out the moisture in the timber, large windows and heaters can scatter heat through the timber floor and alter its layout. Also, dew or rainfall can add to the moisture of the timber and cause it to expand. When installing timber flooring, make sure that neither sunlight nor raindrops can make its way through the timber materials.

Facilitating timber flooring installation

When installing timber floors, make sure that you leave a ten-millimetre gap between the timber slab and any vertical boundaries like stair steps or walls. If the floor is at least six metres wide, the gap can be widened. Then, you can install the timber boards in straight and parallel lines.

When installing top nailed timber boards, you can only place 900 metres of timber at a time to close the gaps. It is important during timber flooring installation that all timber pieces and the floor frame are tightly bonded.