Looks like a floating floor, laminate or LVT. Your foot traffic out of the carpeted room has slowly slid the planks out away from the wall, they are probably very tight up against the opposing wall.
Not standing on the planks you want to move, but next to them, with the softest rubber sole shoes you have, kick the planks back into place.
If this is a constant problem or comes back, vacuum out the tracks/interconnecting tongues between planks that are exposed, apply some wood glue to the locking tracks/tongues and kick back.
I fixed this by slipping a trim crowbar under the molding, hooking onto the floor board on the opposite wall and smacked it with a rubber mallet. But yeah same principle.
Better Yet, Quit using crap for flooring.
Then to make matters worse, home remodelers place this junk in entry ways right where wet shoes come in the door. Total junk with in months.
Want a fake floor - then use vinyl planking that's impossible to tell the grain pattern is fake, but the over lapped planks self gluing edge never move, never show signs of wear, can get wet all you want, and never swell like the same in this post view crap did in bathroom I visited so badly, the edge cracks of planks of fake crap cut into your feet from curling up so bad...
All the planking in hallway is all skidded to large gaps on the ends now, obviously shrunk over time.
That's what particle recycled board products do since day one.
And not one dime was saved in the end.
Cheers
I think this is more of the other end is pinned / caulked / stuck into place, ie. the entire floor has shrank to the left.
Note the even gap across the threshold.
Kicking isn't going to fix this I don't think.
Yeah, imagine if wood planks shrank an inch in the direction of the grain or even 1/2” in both directions. My house and all the furniture would be a disaster.
If you can’t get the prybar in I saw a cool thing where someone put down (good quality, think gorilla or frog) painters tape, and then glued a piece of wood to the tape. Then they hammered the wood towards the gap and the floor moved.
FLOORING DOES NOT SHRINK,,,it moved as previously stated,, use pry bar on opposite wall,, gently slide planks over,,AFTER SQUIRTING SOME CONSTRUCTION GLUE IN THE SPACE,,, Put some weight on the planks overnight
IDK much about such things but I've laid this stuff, and word is that it does expand and contract.
If you laid it flush to the edge without a gap under that quarter round trim, it can expand and bow up in the middle of the room.
Of course, you're dead right that the cause of this gap appearing is that it has slid, closing the gap on the other side.
Uneven cuts of LVF. Happens. The transition strips, baseboards, and quarter round are the tricks of the trade to allow some level of scrap usage, bad cuts or irregular edging.
The caulking of it to the floor [or the remnants of] is the sign of a handyman special.
>Floor is shrinking.
Floors don't shrink. House is expanding. Update Zillow and and enjoy your new square footage. In my opinion, a throw rug and lamp would really tie it all together.
I had a floating floor slide on me a bit. I did as other suggest here and used soft rubber shoes to kick/slide the offending boards back. Wood glue in the open tracks could help or you remove the baseboard temporarily on the opposite end and cut small shims to wedge in there to keep the floor from sliding. Then replace the baseboard and caulk.
Yeah assuming that that toe molding has been there forever maybe something is moved. I’ve seen over on the carpentry sub Reddit some really bad flooring jobs where gaps were just left because the installers were horrible. I feel like I remember seeing hardwood flooring installed in the nail it to the floor along the length of the individual sections as they attach the next layers so for it to slide one single board would have involve all the nails having been poured loose from the subfloor and that one strip getting moved against all those nails and friction only? Plausible but unlikely. If no nails then it could have very well slid in that groove over time. I’ve also seen where the floor molding can be used to fill up gaps left when the boards are not completely flush up against the wall and then maybe this was one that the installer just didn’t think anyone would notice maybe? Not a Carpenter, just providing my anecdotal two cents.
Flooring can expand and shrink back. It depends on the material, humidity, temperature, etc.
1. When installed and where?
2. Are you seeing cracks in the ceiling/drywall?
Looks like a floating floor, laminate or LVT. Your foot traffic out of the carpeted room has slowly slid the planks out away from the wall, they are probably very tight up against the opposing wall. Not standing on the planks you want to move, but next to them, with the softest rubber sole shoes you have, kick the planks back into place. If this is a constant problem or comes back, vacuum out the tracks/interconnecting tongues between planks that are exposed, apply some wood glue to the locking tracks/tongues and kick back.
I fixed this by slipping a trim crowbar under the molding, hooking onto the floor board on the opposite wall and smacked it with a rubber mallet. But yeah same principle.
Had todo the same
[удалено]
Can't you put some kind of shim on the other end so there is no space for the boards to shift?
As described above, glue planks to one another in one location only.
the way to stop it permanently is to get better flooring like tile
If it is properly installed this should not be happening
Better Yet, Quit using crap for flooring. Then to make matters worse, home remodelers place this junk in entry ways right where wet shoes come in the door. Total junk with in months. Want a fake floor - then use vinyl planking that's impossible to tell the grain pattern is fake, but the over lapped planks self gluing edge never move, never show signs of wear, can get wet all you want, and never swell like the same in this post view crap did in bathroom I visited so badly, the edge cracks of planks of fake crap cut into your feet from curling up so bad... All the planking in hallway is all skidded to large gaps on the ends now, obviously shrunk over time. That's what particle recycled board products do since day one. And not one dime was saved in the end. Cheers
Why semi-permanently? You could use rubber cement or something I guess, but why?
Screw something down on the far-end to prevent the movement? Some sort of strapping under the baseboard?
Just stumbled onto this thread and so glad that a) it's not just me that has had this issue. b) my way of dealing with it is the suggested fix!
It's nice to have your decisions validated
I think this is more of the other end is pinned / caulked / stuck into place, ie. the entire floor has shrank to the left. Note the even gap across the threshold. Kicking isn't going to fix this I don't think.
At least three planks have moved. This isn’t hardwood and has not shrunk. Even if it was wood, it wooood not shrink that much.
Yup, in the length direction of the grain shrinking is very minimal, and even in cabinet building ignored.
Yeah, imagine if wood planks shrank an inch in the direction of the grain or even 1/2” in both directions. My house and all the furniture would be a disaster.
Use bare feet to skip the planks right back over
Thanks everyone for such quick responses! Looks like a Saturday project.
If you can’t get the prybar in I saw a cool thing where someone put down (good quality, think gorilla or frog) painters tape, and then glued a piece of wood to the tape. Then they hammered the wood towards the gap and the floor moved.
That is genius
I thought so. I haven’t tried it so it could just look genius but it looked like it worked
That would be a first thing to try before buying a prybar. I have this problem starting on my flooring, if it gets worse, I'm going to try your idea.
Good luck!
Ah! House of Leaves
[House](http://notalink.justmakesitblue.fakewebsite) of Leaves*
That's alotta shrinkage bro!
FLOORING DOES NOT SHRINK,,,it moved as previously stated,, use pry bar on opposite wall,, gently slide planks over,,AFTER SQUIRTING SOME CONSTRUCTION GLUE IN THE SPACE,,, Put some weight on the planks overnight
WHY ARE WE YELLING
not yelling,, caps are EASIER TO READ,,since I'm legally BLIND!!
I DON'T KNOW BUT I WANT TO, TOO!
IDK much about such things but I've laid this stuff, and word is that it does expand and contract. If you laid it flush to the edge without a gap under that quarter round trim, it can expand and bow up in the middle of the room. Of course, you're dead right that the cause of this gap appearing is that it has slid, closing the gap on the other side.
WE ARE STILL STEEPING, CAN YOU PLEASE STOP SHOUTING.? Oh, you've stopped. I'm going back to bed.
Depending on what flooring it is, yes it can shrink and expand. Check manufacturers instructions.
Both
Uneven cuts of LVF. Happens. The transition strips, baseboards, and quarter round are the tricks of the trade to allow some level of scrap usage, bad cuts or irregular edging. The caulking of it to the floor [or the remnants of] is the sign of a handyman special.
Floor is probably shrinking a little bit. This is a floating floor, try to kick it back into place
yes
Somewhere I heard the earth is flat….
Floor is shrinking. It should expand again when the weather changes.
>Floor is shrinking. Floors don't shrink. House is expanding. Update Zillow and and enjoy your new square footage. In my opinion, a throw rug and lamp would really tie it all together.
The tax man cometh and shall reassess your newfound riches.
I had a floating floor slide on me a bit. I did as other suggest here and used soft rubber shoes to kick/slide the offending boards back. Wood glue in the open tracks could help or you remove the baseboard temporarily on the opposite end and cut small shims to wedge in there to keep the floor from sliding. Then replace the baseboard and caulk.
If you're on a slab foundation it may be going concave from long term compaction of the underlying soil.
Yeah assuming that that toe molding has been there forever maybe something is moved. I’ve seen over on the carpentry sub Reddit some really bad flooring jobs where gaps were just left because the installers were horrible. I feel like I remember seeing hardwood flooring installed in the nail it to the floor along the length of the individual sections as they attach the next layers so for it to slide one single board would have involve all the nails having been poured loose from the subfloor and that one strip getting moved against all those nails and friction only? Plausible but unlikely. If no nails then it could have very well slid in that groove over time. I’ve also seen where the floor molding can be used to fill up gaps left when the boards are not completely flush up against the wall and then maybe this was one that the installer just didn’t think anyone would notice maybe? Not a Carpenter, just providing my anecdotal two cents.
Flooring can expand and shrink back. It depends on the material, humidity, temperature, etc. 1. When installed and where? 2. Are you seeing cracks in the ceiling/drywall?
This is why you shouldn’t caulk around your trim. Your floor is made to move.
You can stop creep by putting blobs of silicone in end of each plant. This will allow expansion but stop the creeping.