Maple Hardwood. Gaps, Cracks - Mailbag

Question- We had a beautiful Maple hardwood floor installed in July of this year. Now that the weather has turned colder here in Chicagoland, the floor looks awful! There are gaps everywhere and some boards are beginning to split. What the devil happened and how can we get someone to fix it?

Reply- I'm guessing the colder weather has made you turn on the furnace. What happens with most hardwood when it was installed in warmer more humid summer months, the installers did not acclimate the hardwood. Essentially what happened was it was installed with a high moisture content level then shrunk with heating. A good way to correct this is adapting the heating system with a humidifier. That will close up the gaps but the splitting will be permanent.

Question- I am thinking of using wider plank (4 1/4") maple flooring. I have heard various opinions as to whether this would be a good idea or not. Some have said that there will be too much cupping. Others say it would be fine. Any comments or experiences?

Reply- Maple isn't the most stable of all North American species. I've seen  3/4" material cup and it puzzled me too. All proper guidelines were followed to a tee. In this case is was very near to water but the flooring was on the second floor. If you're thinking of engineered there is no need for concern. If you do choose the solid wide Maple, I've heard some guys seal the backside of each plank before it's installed. This does minimize the cupping effects.

Question- We are considering engineered wood vs. laminate over a slab floor. The main reason for considering laminate is easy care, and concerns about the wood fading. We've been told that wood floors will fade, and if we have rugs/furniture in one spot for a while and then rearrange things, there will be a noticeable difference in the places where the furniture/rugs were due to fading of the unprotected areas of the floor. We're going for either maple, or maple-look laminate. Any advice? Is fading really a big issue w/engineered wood? We have a skylight in the living room, where the wood/laminate would be. Are there ways to reduce fading?

Reply- Fading will happen with any species of hardwood with both engineered and solid products. Some happen to change color more than others, especially exotics. You could look into window treatments that cut down on UV rays. As for Maple, there are changes in color but will very very slight, sometimes not noticeable but will depend on the type of finish used.

Question- I've been looking at maple floors for our home addition. I understand Maple is much harder than oak but can you tell us how much harder? Are there any negatives with maple floors to consider?

Reply- It really depends on the product as there are several types of maples. The harder ones are obtained out of Canada. Negatives? Yes...see attached...Additionally, maple has more of an open grain and some are concerned that it shows more damage with scratching.

Question- I am buying a new construction loft which is to have floating maple floors. They were just put down, and the problem is I think they look terrible because you can see several gaps between the panels (a few are large enough to insert a credit card with plenty of slack). Is this expected? I've lived on a lot of hardwood floors and they have never looked like this. I need to know if I should be insistent with the builder to make it better. Please help.

Reply- The way I see it the only way of making it better is to have it replaced. It sounds like a poor installation to me unless there are flaws with the material itself. Once a floating floor is installed it expands and contracts as a whole instead of individual planks that are nailed to the subfloor.

Question- We're planning on installing prefinished Maple floors and not sure if we should go with matching maple quarter round. Can you help?

Reply- It's more of personal taste with what you decide. Some people prefer the use of painted white shoe molding or whatever the base color is. Regular sized quarter round that is 3/4" X 3/4" also tends too look bulky for lack of a better term.

Question- My floor place is charging me roughly $10/sf for the Mirage Maple and $3/sf for install. Fine. However, the estimate goes to 9 boxes (180 sf) when I have roughly 141 sf of flooring to be done. He assures me if they don't use the ninth box they won't charge me either materials or labor on it. If they do, I have to pay labor for the whole thing-- for 180 sf of installation as well as flooring, even if I only need one board out of the last box. I can see my way to paying for the materials since I know there is wastage, but it annoys me no end to pay for 180 sf of installation when they are only installing 141 actual sf. Is this typical?

Reply- Hard to say. There may be other items associated with the installation. It's always a wise idea to order more than you need or have a box or two left over depending on the square footage involved. Manufacturers change their lines and construction every now and then. Finding one box of this or that becomes a nightmare should some areas get damaged and need replacement.

Question- We're wanting to stain our maple floors but many contractors are not interested saying they turn out blotchy. Is this true?

Reply- Yes, Maple floors can be a real bugger to stain. If you're looking for a stained Maple our suggestion would be to find a prefinished product that suits your desires. Both Mirage and Lauzon offer good color selections.

Question- Now that we have finally decided on site finished flooring versus prefinished floors we are trying to decide

Reply- Due to the open graining of Maple it will show damage more readily compared to any specie that is grainy such as the oaks. Gloss will show every scratch. Satin seems to be today's choice. Some complain of the fake look with matte finishes.

Question- I am replacing existing stairs which lead to my living room. My living room has natural maple  floors. I have to choose between replacing with the same hardwood for the treads and risers or use maple for the tread and painted white risers. Can you help in my decision?

Reply- This is more of  a personal taste issue. I prefer the look of painted white risers but they will show shoe markings and other dirt more.