Wood floor question

[mollybrown]

We upgraded the floors in our house to a distressed, wide planked floor.  It was a pretty expensive upgrade, and I'm not happy with the way it is wearing.  There are several boards that have split/chipped, and H actually got a splinter from one.  Equally important, there are gaps between some of the boards, big enough for a grain of rice to slip through.  It makes cleaning up the kitchen a bitch with 2 small kids, since they find a way to get food in those crevices.  We asked the builder about the gaps, and they say the floor will shrink in the winter and expand in the summer, so there needs to be some space.  That sounds like BS to me.  We had wood floors in our old house (lower quality albeit), and there were no spaces.

Does this sound normal?

[whitemerlot]

Wood floors do expand and contract. The chips, splits, and splinters sound like a quality control issue though. My floors are 65 years old, normal oak floors, and they have not split or cracked anywhere.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Wide planks are less stable than smaller ones. What species wood is it? Is it prefinished or finished on site?

[mollybrown]

I have no idea what species.    It looked pretty and I pointed to it.

It is pre finished.  I guess I'll ask about that when they come to check out the splits and chips.

[mollybrown]

dup

[mrs.jacinthe]

Species can have a LOT to do with wear pattern and shrinkage. If you can find out, that may shed some light on the subject.

[FoxInFiji]

The wider the boards the more gaps you'll have at various times of the year. The expand and contract a lot more than skinnier boards. For every inch of width you have a fraction of a inch more of expansion...which adds up over a big distance. It all depends on the species of wood and that wood's dimensional change coefficients. Here read these links:

www.home-style-choices.com/wide-plank-wood-flooring.html
www.ericksonsfloors.com/specie_change.htm

There isn't a lot you can do now since it's already installed besides try to maintain the humidity in your house better. You can add a whole house humidifier to your furnace supply air duct for the winter time.

[lys]

Sorry you are dealing with this - such a pain.
Were they professionally installed?  If so, call them to come and evaluate the siutation.
Cost for distressed wide plank is more about current style than the actualy quality .

[mollybrown]

Thanks FoxInFiji! I think that's the issue. Our old floors had much narrower planks, and I never noticed spaces. I live in a very dry climate, so I'm surprised there's much of a difference between seasons. Can't hurt to try a humidifier...

And yes, they were professionally installed. They are coming out to look at the floors, so I will focus more on the split/chipped boards.

[seriously]

We have site finished hardwoods and they pop all winter long, several have been so loud they scared my cats! In the cold weather we do end up with some gaps between boards, but once it warms up they all disappear. (this is our second winter in this house, new construction) Your problem with splinters, that's a whole other issue! That shouldn't be happening at all.