Three Tips To Prevent Cracks In Hardwood Floors From Widening
Posted on: 14 January 2015
Since hardwood floors are both fragile and relatively expensive, it's important to protect them even after you've suffered some minor damage. This is especially true if your floor uses exotic wood planks like Brazilian walnut or Patagonian rosewood. So instead of panicking when you see a crack in your hardwood floor, remember these three tips if you want to prevent it from widening.
Control Room Temperature And Humidity As Tightly As You Can
Any type of wood will expand and contract in response to both room temperature and humidity. If you live in a very hot and damp climate, any crack in your hardwood floor is extremely vulnerable to warping as a result of the elements.
To lessen the damage, keep your air conditioning on even when you're not in your house. If you don't want to keep your air conditioning on, at least keep your windows closed. It's also a good idea to cover the crack with a dry towel that can absorb any nearby moisture before the floor can.
Remove Any Heavy Objects From The Area Around The Crack
Any kind of heavy furniture puts a lot of pressure on your hardwood floor. If there's enough pressure near where your crack is, the result could be a whole floorboard or two coming apart and snapping off your floor.
It's also important to communicate the crack's vulnerability to anyone living with you. Someone running or skipping in the vicinity of the crack is very likely to cause serious structural damage.
Avoid Trying To Apply A Filler
You might think that it's a good idea to apply wood filler in order to seal a crack. But while this might work on a smaller structure like a birdhouse, most fillers sold at supermarkets and hardware stores simply aren't strong enough to seal a hardwood floor crack.
The only way your crack is going to be filled effectively is if you contact a professional contractor and have them apply an industrial strength sealant. Otherwise, it's best to just keep any potentially harmful chemicals away from your floor. If you want to fix your crack without hiring a professional, your best bet will be completely removing and replacing the affected floorboards.
While a crack in a hardwood floor can seem like a very big problem, there's no reason to get overly frustrated. As long as you don't do anything to make the crack worse, it won't be too difficult or expensive to deal with it. Talk to your local flooring experts, such as the National Carpet Mill Outlet, for more information.
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