Does the snap together laminate flooring stay together with out glue or nails?

The manufactures directions say no glue.. they just snap together. It is called a floating floor, but when we installed it, it started to get tiny gaps in the seams.Does the snap together laminate flooring stay together with out glue or nails?
There are 2 main reasons why you could be getting gaps in your hardwood laminate flooring.


The first is humidity - there are 2 types of hardwood laminate flooring you can get that are glue less using a tongue and groove system - the first is where the boards slide into each other but can just as easily slide out again and the second requires one board to be lifted before it can be slid into the second board and then dropped to lock it in. If you have this second type of hardwood laminate flooring, then humidity shouldn't be the problem. Let me make this a bit clearer - when humidity increases, the boards expand and the whole floor floats outwards - hence the required space around the floor. When the humidity drops, the boards contract and if the boards lock into each other, they should pull each board with them, hence no gaps. But, if the boards don't lock in together, then gaps can form (as suggested by one of the other answers).





The second cause of gaps is dependent on the level of the sub-floor. For example a floor I laid recently only allowed for an unevenness of the sub-floor of 3 mm per metre (I'm from Australia) thats about 0.1 of an inch over a yards length. If the unevenness of the sub-floor is even slightly more than the manufacturers recommendations, then once the hardwood laminate flooring is laid, gaps will form where the depressions are under the hardwood laminate flooring.





So if your problem is caused by humidity - you don't really have a solution - as one of the answers suggested, wait till the weather becomes more humid and the problem will sort itself out.


If your problem is caused by the unnevenness of the sub-floor, then you need to pull that part of the hardwood laminate flooring up, pour down some levelling compound on the sub-floor (this can be bought at a hardware store), and reinstall the flooring. For more information, check out this article:Does the snap together laminate flooring stay together with out glue or nails?
Here's a Laminate flooring installation guide. Before downloading the guide read over the tips and tricks and see if there is anything than you can do. If you get stuck then use some of the features on this site I pasted below!


http://www.findanyfloor.com/Installation鈥?/a>


Hope this helps you out!
How long ago did you install it? If you live in an area with cold dry winters (any of the northern states), it is not uncommon to see small gaps between the boards. It is from low humidity levels. Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, the humidity levels will start to rise and you should see the gaps go away. Do you have a central humidifier? If you do, is it working? If you don't, it is something you should look into before next winter.
Did you leave enough free space around the edge?If not it will start to buckle and gap.It should just float free without nails or glue.