Solid hardwood floor and sliding door

10 years ago

Hi,

I am installing a hardwood floor for the first time with the help of a friend who has done this couple of times. The wood I selected is 3/4" thick 3" wide solid maple. After two weeks of acclimation, we started the install in my living room, which is a square room with a wide sliding glass door facing the yard.

When we got to the door, my friend suggested that we just cut the wood so that it flushes against the door frame, as shown in the picture below.

I have been doing quite a bit reading on various forums, manuals, etc, and the majority of them recommend to leave a gap (1/4") and install an end-cap molding. There are also one or two suggestions that are inline with my friend's approach. What is the right (or better) approach? Should I be concerned about the expansion/shrinkage since it is summer now, and the wood might shrink more during the winter (I live in Wisconsin).

- We are leaving 3/4" gaps along the two walls facing the tongue and grove, 1/4" gap opposite from the sliding door.

- We already installed a few rows as shown in the photo, what if we now need to change the plan and install an end-cap molding? How do I cut off the edge? Using a jig saw?

Thanks,
Hao

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Comments (3)

brickeyee
10 years ago
"3/4" thick 3" wide solid maple"

Id s this tongue adnd groove individually nailed strips?

You do not need anything approaching 3/4 of an inch for that.

Every board moves independently since only one side is fastened.

The length of wood changes by only a very small percentage with humidity.

Large clearances are required for engineered floating flooring since the entire floor moves as a single very wide board (though cross grain construction can reduce the dimension compared to solid wood).

Chapter 3 covers moisture relationship and size in wood

This post was edited by brickeyee on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 10:20
bitlogger
Original Author
10 years ago
Yes, it is tongue and groove, and each board is nailed. So you are saying that it is ok to leave the wood against the door frame like that?

Thanks for the pointer regarding the gap. I will leave a smaller gap when we reaching the other side of the wall.
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brickeyee
10 years ago
The longitudinal (along the grain) shrinkage of wood is between 0.1% ad 0.2% from green (fresh cut tree) to oven dry (0% water).

Your movement will be a small fraction of this already very small amount.

Chapter 3 of the 'Wood Handbook' covers wood movement with moisture content.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Handbook

This post was edited by brickeyee on Wed, Jun 5, 13 at 10:22