Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Laminate Expansion Question

hi there,

i am a first-time poster in this forum, and have had a look through the other topics but none seem to cover my question:

when laying a laminate floor, it seems universal that a 5mm to 10mm gap is left round the edge of the room for "expansion".

does this expansion occur once you've laid it and then it stays expanded? or is it cyclic expansion and contraction with temperature/humidity? as a materials engineer i find it hard to beleive that 20mm expansion will occur over a 3m or 4m room - that's 0.5% - where the likely temperature range is 10 to 30 celsius.

i am not able to remove the skirting board from the wall, and i don't like the beading that some people tack to it. can i just butt it up to the wall with only a few mm to spare, so it expands to fit snug?

also, i am planning to laminate the whole of the downstairs of my house in one continuous floor - is it feasible to take the floor through doorways, and cut it to fit tightly? (the entire floorspace is 8m by 4m overall, split in to two rooms and a hallway)


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fyi, i am using ikea's "hemse" flooring.

thanks in advance for any help, i am feeling rather daunted by this task as i have not laid laminate before.

jeff.

that mess of lines was my attempt to outline the room in "ascii art". i guess the forum doesn't like it.

Stick to manufacturers specs as wierd as you may think it seems, or take a chance at your own rules.
I understand your situation, but I am a pro, so I will always recommend manufacs specs.

Cyclic expansion. Though engineered wood flooring is usually described as that which is composed of muliple layers (plies) containing a wood veneer wear layer, which makes it much more stable than solid wood, laminate also is an engineered floor usually comprised of melamine wear and bottom layers with a resin saturated particle board core....and even more stable than engineered wood. That being said, you still need an expansion space (wood products can do funny things), and I think the mfg's build in a large safety factor as a disclaimer for warranty purposes.

I have 2 rooms (South Florida) that were opened to each other via an archway (built a gym) and continuous Pergo (birch-blocked). Reasonable expansion space where feasible. No problems.

I also dont like the tacky looking quarter round they recommend to tack on to the base. Or their own base. So I used base from the home store (finished clear) and slipped the pergo just under it. Plenty of expansion space (+/- .5 inches) and looks much neater. Pergo (and others) also make a color matched adhesive/sealer to use around the edges between the floor edge and wall (the expansion space). I used this around outside walls under the base. Running your floor up to the base with a small adhesive filled seam all around would look worse than having quarter round. Good Luck.