Hardwod Maple Flooring - Width

[Mike Gregory]

Hi all. The wife and I are looking at Maple Flooring. I think I like the look of the 5" wide boards. Anyone have any comments regarding installing, swelling, cracking, other?? vs. narrower boards. What width boards do you have in your house - just wondering?

Thanks,
Mike Gregory

[Dixon Peer]

I'd check on the radial and tangential shrinkage if I were you. There are tables somewhere that will give you those figures; Google it. I installed a 2 1/4" strip maple floor once for a customer that asked for it, and when I went back to the house several years later, the floor had opened up too much for my standards.

[frank shic]

wider boards = less installation time!

[Mike Gregory]

Dixon,
I'm not sure quite where you're going with this. Are you saying don't put a wood floor down or do you have a suggestion on how to prevent gaps over time? Seeing a problem develop over time will drive me nuts so I would like to get it right the first time.

Mike

[frank shic]

mike, you may want to try posting this on the hardwood flooring forum:

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/phpbb2/index.php

try to get prefinished maple which will shave even more time off your install.

[Ben Grunow]

I have 50 yr old maple strip floors in my house and they are not cracked at all. I have noticed that some of the boards have shrunken different amounts along their lengths.. more where grain is straight and less where druly/pillowed. It is fantastic looking and hard as a rock.

My only suggestion would be to look at the stock and see what the grain is like. The quilty stuff looks good on furniture but I think will lead to odd gaps over time. If it is all straight grain then go for it.

[Greg Funk]

You will get gaps in between the boards during the winter. The size of the gaps will be a function of the wood type, width of boards and the difference in moisture content between the summer and winter. For a given wood type the wider the board the larger the gap. 2 1/4" boards will have a smaller gap than 5" boards. Depending on your location the difference in moisture content of wood can vary significantly from summer to winter. A recent article in issue #187 of FWW (http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=27129) includes maps showing winter and summer moisture content as well as a table which will allow you to calculate wood shrinkage. For example, it looks like the MC in New Jersey would vary from about 7 to 12%. If you were using 5" flatsawn maple the width of the boards would shrink approx .090" in the winter whereas quartersawn 2 1/4" oak would only shrink .018".

Greg

[Craig Che]

Here are pictures of my floor I just finished installing, 2 1/4" boards. Took a while but was well worth it, definitely rent a floor nailer and for me to nail 400sf it took about 1 whole day. I finished it myself using an oil based poly and doing that wasn't difficult, but by far the toughest thing was being able to see where you had been after the first coat.

[Sam Shank]

I have 4" maple, and no cracking. I do get gaps in the winter. Esp where the ductwork runs directly beneath the floor. They can be 1/16 to almost 1/8. They will close in the summer. Not too much of an issue if you know it's coming.

The first winter you'll hear LOUD cracking. That will be the finish breaking where the gaps appear. One suggestion is to use double tar paper, and insulation if possible, though it's likely not.

Good luck!

Sam

[Eddie Darby]

Narrower floors have a better chance of looking good throughout their lifetime, due to less movement. I would go with the narrower, given a choice.

[Jeff Raymond]

Many years ago I put in a wide maple floor which covered the living room, hallway and dining room.

Each of the boards were 6" wide. I did a tongue and groove thing with them and routed two 1/2" channels lengthwise to account for movement. They were screwed into the floor joists and bunged with cherry.

Ran into her a couple of years ago and the floor hasn't moved a bit, still nice and smooth.

Measure twice, cut once.