Is it normal for hardwood floors to split?

You have noticed some splits in your lovely hardwood floor.

• Is it okay to have splits?
• Are splits normal even if your floor is new?

Splitting of woods, unfortunately, occurs in some hardwood floors, but NO it’s not normal and doesn’t have to be a part of your flooring.

Hardwood floor splitting

Floor splitting is generally moisture related. The split occurs when the wood is an effect by moisture either excess moisture or humidityor when the wood dries out to much. Under these conditions the wood expands and contracts due to humidity and other moisture issues and splits occur.

There are many reasons why hardwood floor splitting occurs such as:

• Improper condition at time of installation. It is possible that the problem was initiated from the start – the installation. If your wood flooring isn’t installed in the correct relative humidity (RH), it has higher chance of splitting.
• Changing humidity levels. If the RH has changed, this may cause your floor to be exposed to splitting. This usually happens during the change of season or conditions eg added an air-conditioner or new heating system.
• You have a damp under your flooring. If you have this, the moisture can seep through the subfloor. Your floor can absorb it and release it into the room, resulting to wood splitting.

All these things can contribute to wood splitting. However, there are ways on how you can reduce the chance of it happening. You can take a closer look at the causes of splitting above and avoid these things from occurring.

However, should you already have splitting in your flooring, call for professional help now, while the damage can still be repaired.

For your professional flooring contractor, contact D.I.Y Parquetry, Timber & Cork Flooring. We offer full flooring installation as well as repair services.

We’ll do everything we can to get your floors back into its best shape possible!