pellet stoves and hardwood floors?

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lightyear

Member
Dec 24, 2010
163
Maryland
We installed hardwoods this summer-saved big bucks, and I did it right. I took my time and did it over a period of 3 weeks. I am now noticiing some minor gaps appearing in wood throughout downstairs in the room where stove is located. ANyone else find this?

I did open the boxes and let them air out for a week with a dehumidifier running too.

I decided to place some water in a bowl to help add moisture to air to maybe help, but it might be too late.

Has anyone else seen this, or do you not have your stove in the same room as hardwoods?
 
Should not have run the dehumidifier! You shrank them! Mine said to condition them for 3 weeks. I haven't seen any problems with mine. Are you on concrete?
 
no, on crawlspace.

I ran the dehumidifier because it was to get the "moisture" out before installing them. That way when they were installed they wouldn't shrink...
 
My stove is sitting on a cast iron pad (made for the stove) over (mostly) tight oak flooring circa 1910, with no problems.

I think I might have skipped the dehumidifer because I thought the purpose of letting your wood flooring material sit where it is to be installed is to let it acclimate to the space, in terms of moisture content. By running the dehumidifer you might have "tricked" the flooring into assuming/adjusting to a different environment than really exists. Not sure what the fix might be.
 
My first year with the stove but 13 years with hardwood through the whole first floor. You will see some small gaps come & go as the seasons change, I believe it is normal, just wood being wood.
 
I have had them same experience with my woods floors. Although typically I do not notice the small gaps until later in the
season when the air is real dry. You may want to measure the humidity in the house. My folks run a humidifier in the stove room
whenever the stove is on, there floors look perfect.
 
One reason could be that if the moisture content of the wood floor was very high to begin with, it may have needed
more time (possibly 3 weeks or so) to acclimate to the room.
 
You probably did the install correctly and the minor gapping is just a normal reaction to the drier air. +1 on the humidifier recommendation above.
 
tjnamtiw said:
Should not have run the dehumidifier! You shrank them! Mine said to condition them for 3 weeks. I haven't seen any problems with mine. Are you on concrete?
. Had a brain freeze! Thinking backward as usual.......
 
jmart said:
One reason could be that if the moisture content of the wood floor was very high to begin with, it may have needed
more time (possibly 3 weeks or so) to acclimate to the room.

I also believe that some shrinkage can be expected in the winter months as other posters have said
and that the floor should return to it's original appearance once the proper humidity level is reached.
 
jdege said:
My first year with the stove but 13 years with hardwood through the whole first floor. You will see some small gaps come & go as the seasons change, I believe it is normal, just wood being wood.

I agree, as seasons change wood expands and contracts. I have A LOT of pine in my house and it goes through this process over and over year after year. I understand your concern but I think your floor will be okay IMHO.
 
I installed 3/4" Oak flooring years ago, heated the area with coal stove with blower. Have no gaps.. Your gaps will prob disappear in spring/summer.. Hope..
 
PJPellet said:
jdege said:
My first year with the stove but 13 years with hardwood through the whole first floor. You will see some small gaps come & go as the seasons change, I believe it is normal, just wood being wood.

I agree, as seasons change wood expands and contracts. I have A LOT of pine in my house and it goes through this process over and over year after year. I understand your concern but I think your floor will be okay IMHO.

x2
 
Wood expands and contracts a lot even under normal moisture variations.

Two years ago I built a new raised hearth for our Whitfield and the wood used had been stored inside at Home depot and I let the stuff sit in the family room for a while prior to finishing the project.

Over the past two years there are subtle changes in things with some small warpage showing and little gaps here and there in things.

The Mantle really did some morphing after drying out completely.

Even with good dry flooring, the normal seasonal changes in the moisture levels is/could certainly make the stuff shrink and grow a bit.

Wood heat (pellet stove) can really dry the air out a lot and this will certainly account for what you are seeing.


Just part of having real hardwood floors me thinks.

A little more moisture in the room may help.

Snowy
 
lightyear said:
no, on crawlspace.

I ran the dehumidifier because it was to get the "moisture" out before installing them. That way when they were installed they wouldn't shrink...

This probably isn’t your problem but I was watching a few YouTube videos on laying laminated wood flooring and one of them said to be sure you install the flooring perpendicular to the floor joists. I suppose that would make sense if one had 1/2 inch plywood covering the joists but with 3/4 inch I doubt it would make much difference.

Just a thought.
 
I'm running a wood stove insert on a raised hearth. Had wood floors long before stove and floors are still the same. Heat rises so there's no heat per sea on the floor. I would think a stove below a wood floor is more subject to drying out and shrinking. I do run a humidifier but again, the heat from the appliance is rising.
 
bigdaddyste said:
PJPellet said:
jdege said:
My first year with the stove but 13 years with hardwood through the whole first floor. You will see some small gaps come & go as the seasons change, I believe it is normal, just wood being wood.

I agree, as seasons change wood expands and contracts. I have A LOT of pine in my house and it goes through this process over and over year after year. I understand your concern but I think your floor will be okay IMHO.

x2

X3 here
 
Thanks all, I think I might go get a humidifier. That will hopefully help relieve my fears.

I did run floors perpendicular to joists-I spend lots of time making sure I did the flooring correctly-Didn't want to waste $ on floors. So I hope the weather changes here will help.

Thanks guys.
 
It's wood. It shrinks, it swells. The gaps are just part of having wood floors.

Hopefully, you left some space on the perimeter for when the wood swells.
 
I have Hickory floors which tend to expand/contract more than most wood flooring
I get LARGE gaps in the winter
they all close right back up come spring
not real attractive but it is wood so I expect some movement
running a humidifier this year
see how it goes
 
FredDels said:
It's wood. It shrinks, it swells. The gaps are just part of having wood floors.

Hopefully, you left some space on the perimeter for when the wood swells.

Agreed!
 
I think your flooring maybe shirking do to a building wrap problem. If they were built above grade with a crawl space then the flooring may well move with the weather.
 
jdege said:
My first year with the stove but 13 years with hardwood through the whole first floor. You will see some small gaps come & go as the seasons change, I believe it is normal, just wood being wood.

x2 Have oak floors for 11 years and stove for 4 years. I dont see any difference. Mine seem to shrink in winter and swell in the summer. More spaces winter less summer .
 
There are floors that I installed forty years ago and they don't move summer or winter (but it could be because of the single malt). There aren't to many above grade houses built up here. I can only say that if the building humidity is maintained at a constant summer and winter flooring and trim will not swell or contract (seperate on your doors or baseboards).
 
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