I always thought a 6-inch gap for expansion was overkill until a job in Tucson last month

I was putting down this wide plank engineered wood in a big open plan house, and the homeowner wanted it tight to the stone fireplace. I left my usual quarter inch, thinking the Arizona dry heat wouldn't be that bad. Two weeks later, I got the callback. The whole run by the fireplace had buckled, creating this huge hump you could trip on. The homeowner was not happy, obviously. The supplier came out and measured the room's humidity swing from the AC blasting to the door being open, and it was way more than I figured. He pointed right at my tiny gap and said, 'That's your culprit. This isn't Ohio.' I had to pull up and redo about 300 square feet on my own dime. Has anyone else had a climate totally change how you plan your expansion space?

3 comments

3 Comments

emeryj661mo ago

That Tucson story is brutal. So the supplier measured the actual humidity swing in the room? What were the numbers, like from what percent to what percent? I've only ever gone by the general climate, not the specific room conditions after install.

john_fisher1mo ago

Yeah, @emeryj66, reminds me of a guy who tracked his garage humidity for a year.

jamesf291mo ago

Forget general climate. Gotta measure the actual room now. That humidity swing will get you every time.