Home & Lifestyle Spring 2019

Expansion, Contraction, Joints & Trims By Guy Thornycroft

A s you would expect, different materials behave differently under the same conditions making it important to know when picking your new flooring. Advertising has made much of ‘waterproof’ but that’s not an absolute. For most, a water resistant floor is adequate, but what about the more important question of environment? Are you beach, damp valley, shaded slope or rocky hill top?All flooring will expand and contract. Some in response to heat and cold and others a change in humidity. Generally, natural materials such as timber and bamboo (and to an extent, laminate) are hydroscopic. That is they react to the moisture levels in the air.

flooring will become too wide not to allow an expansion joint to be installed. Ask advice on how wide you can go before needing one as it will depend on the floor type you choose.Trims are required where your new floor meets the tiles in a laundry, an external door, a change in flooring like carpet or change in height such as a step. Most trims are designed to allow the floor to expand and contract under them and need to be installed so that the floor is not prevented from doing so.Consider your building environment when you pick your floor and ask for advice. See you in the showroom. Proflooring 258 West Street, Umina Beach Phone: 4342 6666

When theair ismoist it’sabsorbedand the floor expands (mostly in the width of the board). As a dry spell sets in the floor slowly dries out and shrinks over a number of weeks. Bamboo has the greatest movement in this way.To deal with this an 8-12mm gap is left where ever the floor meets a vertical surface like a wall. This is best covered by your skirting or as an alternative, scotia and you will never see that movement,Vinyl and the much advertised Hybrid floors are thermoscopic; they respond to temperature. When the house is cold they contract and when the heating goes on they expand. This can happen several times a day. In all floating floors at some point the area of

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258 West Street, Umina Beach P:4342 6666 | email:info@proflooring.com.au