• Hardwood flooring should fit tightly enough to leave no visible seam.Parquet floor image by Einar Bog from Fotolia.com
  
  

Very Tight Fit

• Hardwood floor, according to homebuilding experts at This Old House, should very tightly fit together. Pieces of hardwood should fit together so well that This Old House recommends using a mallet or hammer to lightly tap hardwood boards together, and installers can use a pull bar to ensure a close fit for boards in tight spaces.
  
  

Some Expansion Room Necessary

• Though hardwood flooring planks should very fit very tightly against one another, installers must leave a small gap, usually of about a quarter of an inch, between flooring and walls. Home improvement experts at One Project Closer note that hardwood naturally expands and shrinks as the ambient temperature changes, and lack of room can lead to buckling when the wood expands.
  
  

Bottom Line

• During installation, use a hammer or mallet to ensure hardwood floors fit very tightly together and leave no visible seams. Leave a quarter-inch of expansion room around outer edges of the flooring, though, to prevent buckling.