One recent innovation in a floating hardwood floor is known as the lock and fold approach.
Floating hardwood floor separating.
A floating laminate floor is not glued nailed stapled or otherwise secured to the subflooring.
Almost every wood floor will show some separation between boards particularly in the winter months when homes are heated and the air is dry.
Gapping in engineered hardwood can be due to many factors including but not limited to the material s manufacturing changes in humidity and the type and quality of the installation.
Engineered hardwood flooring is designed to minimize gaps due to expansion and contraction of the wood.
With a floating floor the rules of expansion due to air moisture still apply.
Laminate floors do not warp so this only applies to wood floors.
Unlike tongue and groove examples this type of floating hardwood floor relies on the use of a design that allows the ends of the boards to be laid in an over and under pattern that joins together to form a smooth surface.
But to answer a common question.
However plank separation can also occur with floating floors.
Floating floor plank separation.
I have mainly discussed plank separation for solid wood and engineered floors that have been directly bonded to the sub floor.
Often floating engineered wood floors are installed over existing tile vinyl or another floor.
Rope and foam cracks wider than 1 4 inch that result from warping in the wood and not separated sections of the floating floor can.