Warren Wilson
03-29-2017, 12:51 PM
I am installing an "engineered" wooden floor over the plywood subfloor in my bedroom. The "engineered" material is essentially a nice plywood with a tough face. (By "nice"plywood I mean 8 plys in the half-inch-thick product with no voids).
So I am installing plywood over plywood and nailing it in place (nails at 4" - 6" intervals).
Here is my question: why does the manufacturer recommend a 1/2" expansion space around the perimeter of the flooring? It's plywood. It's nailed to plywood. The walls are built on the subfloor and everything is fastened to the floor joists.
I will, of course, follow the manufacturer's recommendations. But this slightly violates my sense of wood movement. (Even on the issue of the solid wood oak floor I installed elsewhere in the house, I am slightly puzzled, as it is very securely nailed to the subfloor throughout. This would seem to seriously inhibit independent movement of the subfloor and flooring, and with all those nails would wood expansion and contraction not create cracking and buckling instead of growth at the edge?)
So I am installing plywood over plywood and nailing it in place (nails at 4" - 6" intervals).
Here is my question: why does the manufacturer recommend a 1/2" expansion space around the perimeter of the flooring? It's plywood. It's nailed to plywood. The walls are built on the subfloor and everything is fastened to the floor joists.
I will, of course, follow the manufacturer's recommendations. But this slightly violates my sense of wood movement. (Even on the issue of the solid wood oak floor I installed elsewhere in the house, I am slightly puzzled, as it is very securely nailed to the subfloor throughout. This would seem to seriously inhibit independent movement of the subfloor and flooring, and with all those nails would wood expansion and contraction not create cracking and buckling instead of growth at the edge?)