Moisture and wood flooring

[seekir]

quote:

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Once you nail it down, how will it expand?

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Even nailed down floors will move when there are moisture changes. Ordinary nails don't have tremendous shear strength and will bend when subjected to the incredible force wood can exert. Floating floors presumably move more freely and that ought to be fine unless the perimeter gaps are too small and the floor boards contact the walls causing "tenting" (lifting off the subfloor) or the flooring actually shrinks sufficiently to open gaps at the perimeter. I would think the latter would be unusual in Hawaii, especially in windward areas.