Hardwood around granite fireplace hearth

I have been struggling with the issue of wood expansion issues throughout the process of flooring our home. But now I'm in the home stretch with one final matter.

At issue is expansion around relatively small imoveable objects such as a fireplace hearth. I am puzzled because in one of the few books about flooring (Dan Bollinger's) he shows a stone hearth being framed right up to the stone with oak. I have a 14" x 60" granite slab beveled to 3/4" thickness in front of our fireplace. Because it is beveled to this thickness it would NOT look great to put end cap expansion arount it since it would end up higher than the granite bevel. A siliconed gap of say 1/4" wouldn't look as bad as I had imagined... but I'm still not thrilled. Otherwise it is a matter of framing the slab right up to the granite with oak (as does Bollinger-a supposed expert). I'm using prefinished stuff. The frame would be groove "out" so that the tongue of the floorbards perpendicular to it would slip in neatly.

Is there a problem with this? Could expansion around such a small object cause heaving or disfigurement in the flooring around it? What is the opinion out there from you who are in the flooring business?

Thanks!
Bob W.

 

If you don't like the look of a wood end cap, consider using a brass or nickle ceramic end cap instead. As long as your laminate floor has somewhere to expand to, it should be ok.

 

I can't say I do like the looks of them. I DO like the wood endcap. It's just that it will come out higher than the beveled granite and the bevel will end up like a trench or "moat" all around the hearth's perimeter. (By the way, it's not laminate. It's 3/4" solid prefinished oak.)

I went to Lowes this afternoon and looked in their flooring book. Pictures and all...they show a tile hearth being framed with solid oak with absolutely no expansion gap...just as in the Bollinger book does!

 

OK, 3/4 inch is nailed, different story, go ahead and butt to it, we've done that with no problems.

 

Most installers tend to recommend undercutting stone hearth to accommodate installation of flooring and to provide a more professional look.