Last spring, I laid decking using a knife blade as a spacer, about 3 mm, and now I have 6-8 mm gaps. Now, I am laying new decking in another area without gaps, and already after a few days, I have about 2 mm gaps. It's likely to end up being 3-4 mm, which is okay. The decking I'm laying now measures 119-122 mm. For those that are 119, I allow about a 1 mm gap and the rest 0 mm.
The advice from the Swedish wood association is useless. 120 mm decking should be edge to edge 126 mm. They probably have never laid any decking themselves.
The advice from the Swedish wood association is useless. 120 mm decking should be edge to edge 126 mm. They probably have never laid any decking themselves.
Yep, saw that nowR RoBo said:
makes sense, and good for me because my decking almost dripped when I laid it. Measured it now just for fun, and the edge-to-edge distance was 125-126mm for me on the 6 decking widths I measured. And they were laid, as mentioned, soaking wet right against each other.If the decking I lay is 120 mm, then there will be 6 mm gaps with 126 mm from edge to edge.R RoBo said:
When it dries, the gaps will be about 10 mm.
I have been laying decking last week and this week, placing them edge to edge.
The first ones I laid were 120-121 mm and now have about 2 mm gaps. It will increase a bit more once the decking is fully dried.
Yes, I have measured with calipers. Relatively even in width. Possibly some are a millimeter narrower at the ends, but I usually saw off the ends a bit.
Some I haven't used yet have dried a little and are 119 mm, so I'll lay those with 1-2 mm gaps from the start.
I made the mistake of laying decking last year with a knife blade between, about 3 mm, and now there are substantial gaps.
If you lay undried decking that is 120 mm wide and use the recommendation 126 mm edge to edge, how wide gaps do you then expect to get when it has dried?