Is wooden floor fitted properly

[Toby]

Had solid oak floors fitted about 3 months ago. I'm just not sure if they did a very good job. There are gaps between some boards and it looks like they actually put some wood filler between them in places. Also, some boards are slightly raised relative to others. There are also some bad choices in terms of boards used beside each other but I can live with that. The above problems are not very severe - they are really only noticeable to people like us who are down on floor with kids all the time but I like to know if its likely to cause problems down the line. Thanks.

 

[cormac76]

I'm by no means a professional, but I have layed a few wooden floors before, my folks place & my brothers house, and later this year in my own place.

The problems you are seeing are possibly due to the wood drying out, which can cause the boards to contract & warp slightly.
This is more likely in solid wood than semi-solid or engineered boards.

Don't know of anything you can do for this, unless you have spare boards that you can replace the warped ones with.

As for the filler like substance - no idea what that could be.

Any professionals out there with better advice?

 

[bskinti]

Seeing that you have solid oak boards (hardwood)and are down 3 months there should be no problem with them having gaps at the moment, as time goes by they will tighten due to expansion you see hardwood expands and softwood shrinks, If hardwood was put down tight they would burst up in humps if they cant expand, so just give it time, the secret when laying is to know what gaps to leave,but its better to have gaps than not at this stage,

 

[Leo]

...you see hardwood expands and softwood shrinks

You'll find both expand and contract dependant on the moisture content. Soft, or more accurately less dense, wood will generally experience more movement than hard.

I wouldn't worry about slight gaps you only notice when you're down on the floor. As a natural product, no two planks are ever exactly the same, so variations in width occur. It sounds in your case that there may also be variations in the thickness. Generally, the higer the quality the wood, the less variation there will be.

I would be a little concerned by the use of filler between boards. How was the floor installed? If it was floated, it's possible that some of the glue has squeezed though to the surface.
Leo