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Posted by on June 30, 2007, 2:22 am
>
> > I was hoping to get ideas on the best woodfloorto use in a cottage
> > in Maine that is not used in the Winter with no heat. Could no decide
> > on which would hold up better. Solid, engineered or whatever. I was
> > thinking of 3/8" oak prefinished as height is a porblem but then
> > thought about the place not being heated. Now I am confused. Thanks.
>
> I ended up using laminate in our cottage. It is unheated in winter. I
> emailed as many manufacturers as I could & asked them all. Most said not to
> do it. I got some extreme answers. Like water in wood would freeze & crack
> laminate. At any rate one manufacturer said okay as long as I put in vapour
> barrier & insulatedfloor. Well I did one small section & it was fine the
> next spring. So I decided to do bedrooms next. I thought about vapour
> barrier & insulation but said to myself. Cottage is raised. Air under
> should be same as air inside, so did not insulate or add vapour barrier.
> Next Spring all was well, so I did rest of cottage.
> So first part been in 3 years, second in 2 & 3rd in 1 year. No
> problems so far. I have since found another unheated cottage that has had
> it in for quit a few years with no problem. We are in Ontario Canada and
> the winters do get pretty cold.
>
> We have a panabode cottage. It is pretty well solid Cedar. floors & ceiling
> 2", walls 3"
>
> Bob
Humidity is always bad for hardwood because wood expands and finish
does not - finish can crack or peel off..
Temperature expansion and shrinking just adds to the problem.
Expansion is bad not only because of problems on a surface but as well
because the floor can push walls to the point of either popping up or
damaging the wall if installed too close to it.
One can minimize problems by applying finish that is flexible rather
than hard.
Check as well on coefficient of expansion for particular wood, just
from top of my head:
Birch, hickory expand a lot
maple, cherry, alder and poplar expand much less.
Softwood: pine, cedar and redwood expand little as well.
see my hardwood zig-zag and plankization at:
http://www.verysimplefloorborder.com/VerySimpleFloorBorder/Options2.htm
Have a nice day
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