Summary: Measurements and advice when laying floors - Expansion gaps, floorboard sizes, dimensions for floating floors, dimensions when using tongue-and-groove boards and recommended board lengths.
When laying solid wood floors it is important to leave a gap between the board and the walls to allow for expansion. In general, wood-engineered floors expand and shrink less than solid wood floors.
Solid oak floors require a 4mm (1/8in) expansion gap for every meter width of the room with a minimum 10mm (3/8in) gap. For example, a 4 meter wide room would require a 16mm (5/8in) expansion gap, a 3 meter wide room would require a 12mm (1/2in) expansion gap.
Pine floors require a 4-5mm (1/8in - 3/16in) expansion gap for every meter width of the room with a minimum 10mm (3/8in) gap.
Beach floors require a 7mm (1/4in) expansion gap for every meter width of the room with a minimum 10mm (3/8in) gap.
Wood-engineered floors act differently to solid wood floors and only require a 10mm (3/8in) expansion gap.
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