I am putting 3/4" unfinished oak strip flooring in my family room. The family room has a fireplace with a brick hearth. I would like to use 4" or 6" wide 3/4" oak to build a "frame" around the hearth on the floor and then butt the strip flooring into this frame (rather than running the strips right up to the hearth).

Here is an attempt at a ASCII drawing of what I have in mind:


| | | | Brick | || |
| | | | Hearth | || |
| | | |___________| || |
| | | / \ || |
| | |________________ _|| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |


The flooring directions is running with the end grain towards the fireplace. The room is about 14' X 20' with the fireplace on one of the 14' walls. The hearth sticks out into the room about 1.5', and is about 3.5' wide.


If I do this, will I have problems if I do not leave an expansion gap between the strip floor and the frame around the hearth? I am concerned because the part of the frame in front of the fireplace will have the grain at a 90 degree angle to the grain in the rest of the floor.

I want to leave a gap between the wood frame and the brick hearth. What (if anything) should I use to fill this gap so that debris doesn't fall into the crack but will still allow the wood to expand and shrink?




Thanks,

David

 

Oops, I guess the ASCII drawing didn't work.


-David

 

David:

Your description is very clear to me, and thanks for the details. I've heard one suggestion on one message board(floorboards.com) that made alot of sense to me and I never considered it. Considering your flooring dimensions are not that great, I would leave 1/4" expansion around the hearth perimeter and 1/2"- 5/8" on the room perimeter.

The suggestion I heard was to fill the 1/4" area with silicone caulk then sprinkle some brick dust to match the color of your hearth before the caulk dries.

 

David, to get the best look while maintaining an expansion gap, undercut the hearth using an undercut saw with a masonry blade, then chip it out with a cold chisel. It's a little more work but it will look professional.

Scott Stephens
http://www.stephensfloor.com