Wood floor popping when the furnace comes on
Q: I’m having a problem with my wood floor popping when the furnace comes on and run for 30 minutes or more. I am getting this very loud popping in the flooring, is that a natural occurrence when the weather out side changes or is that something I need too be concern about?
A: I’ve heard of this a couple of times in my career. Probably the floor contracting a bit with the dry air from the furnace and either stretching the polyurethane coating, pulling away from such that had soaked into the joint, or, if it is a very tightly milled floor (tongue and groove joint being very snug fit) it would make such a noise as each adjacent piece pulls slightly away from each other. Shouldn’t be anything to worry about and should stop after a short time.
Follow-up Q: Whew! I thought I was dealing with something major. I just brought the house about a month ago and I have the paper work on the floors. It appears that the floor was installed in 1998. Is there anything I can do to make this noise stop, like a humidifier?
A: I think I would suggest buying an inexpensive hygrometer from an electronics store, which will show the temperature and relative humidity in the room. A humidifier may help. It is a tricky subject though. Floor manufacturers would tell us to keep the humidity in our homes between 45-55% or so. this would be impossible in Toronto in the dead of winter. I would have rivers of water and ice streaming down my windows. No higher than 40 in winter I would think, and don’t let it drop below 30. Hope that helps.
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