decking blunder?

A question about : decking blunder?

hi,just started to lay my decking.my friend came round & noticed iv layed them flush toghther.he said they need to be layed 5mm apart to allow for exspansion.i sure he s rite,it makes sense,but i think iv seen loads of decking layed flush togher!

Best answers:

• Hi deano,
  You should get more help with this on the In My Home board, so I'll move your thread over there.
  Pink
• As far as I understand the gaps are for drainage and expansion/contraction.
  HTH
• Hate to say this but I think you should have allowed for expansion. I think you may find that in the winter when the boards get wet they will swell up and if they are laid close to each other they may warp or even pull up the board next to it. When we laid ours in the summer I was told anything between 5-10mm. I thought 10 was a bit wide so we stuck to the 5mm gap between boards.Would it be too difficult for you to take the boards up and re-lay them again? Pain I know but maybe better to do something about it now while the boards are still perfect.
• Yes. there should be an expansion gap - HWMBO used tile spaces for floor tiles to get ours right......
• A six inch nail banged through a bit a 2x2 makes a great spacer that won't fall through the gap.
• Here's some info!
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/desig..._decking.shtml