How to Stretch a Laminate Kitchen Floor

You need to stretch a laminate floor when the ambient humidity and temperature conditions in your kitchen fall outside of the range that the flooring manufacturer recommends. This causes the planks to shrink and produces a noticeable gap between the ends of adjacent boards. Kitchen usage creates a dynamic ambient environment, so it's important to address the problem with this in mind. A two-pronged approach allows you to rectify the underlying cause and ensures that the flooring expands and contracts as a whole unit.

Wood glue
Damp cloth
Protective gloves
Respirator

Instructions

- 1
  Remove all freestanding furniture from the kitchen. Turn up your kitchen thermostat to create an ambient temperature within the flooring manufacturer’s guidelines. Typically, a laminate floor requires a room temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit and about 50 percent humidity.
- 2
  Allow the flooring to acclimatize for 48 hours to expand or stretch back to optimum condition.
- 3
  Apply wood glue into the joints between the ends of adjacent laminate planks. Push each plank in sequence up against the adjoining plank end to close any remaining gaps.
- 4
  Allow the wood glue to dry for 24 hours or according to the manufacturer’s directions. Return the freestanding furniture to the kitchen.
- 5
  Keep the kitchen's humidity and temperature within the tolerance limits for your laminate flooring at all times to prevent a future shrinkage problem.

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