Wood expands and contracts with seasonal differences in humidity and the older a floor gets the greater the chance that these movements will.
How to fix gaps in old wood floors.
This leaves your floor looking even worse and requiring you to dig out the old putty and replace it.
The most extensive is to have to completely replace a floor that has too many gaps to repair without losing its beauty.
There are many different ways to go about correcting this type of issue but we will dive into the most common.
Why you should avoid putty fillers.
Water logged wood will first swell then shrink as it dries out.
Putty fillers were once a mainstay of hardwood floor repair.
Like many products both kinds of wood floors have pros and cons.
This allows the layers to shift and move without gaps developing between boards.
Over time however the putty hardens chips and flakes.
Another exacerbating condition is water damage.
The problem is magnified when the boards were not tightly laid in the first place.
Different gap repair methods.
Wood fillers are also not meant for use with large gaps.
Engineered flooring is made with layers of plywood placed in different directions.
Ordinarily you can fill the gaps with wood filler putty or with pieces of rope and then finish with stain to match the floor.
You can fix floor gaps in a number of different ways.
If gaps remain or the floor is old it is possible to make the gaps less noticeable and prevent dirt and debris from building up in them by filling them with rope.
If you haven t chosen flooring yet engineered hardwood is an excellent alternative to solid.
With older tongue and groove hardwood or even wide plank floors gaps inevitably develop between the boards mostly because the wood shrinks over time as it dries out and loses moisture content.