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We installed our hardwood floors in Nov-05 and about six months later the floor started lifting. I had a gentleman come and do a moisture test and he mentioned the moisture should be 14% or below my moisture was at 25%. We have pulled all the floor up again and are wanting to redo it but can you please suggest what an individual can to put on their floor if there is moisture?

Does pre finished 3/4 - 2 1/4 birch wood have to be “aired” in the house before being installed. If yes, how long? Individually or just open the cardboard box on the ends?

I’m considering putting 5″ maple engineered floors on the 2nd story of my house (plywood subfloor).But I’m worried that when the power goes out for a week of two after a hurricane the humidity in the house will cause the floors to be ruined. If so, will they come back to normal? Also, is engineered flooring much better resistant to buckling etc.? Is there a particular species of engineered wood better then another?

I am in the process of renovating my house. One of the improvements is the addition of pre finished “Aztec Cherry” floors. I had a few people helping the day that we started the floors. The guy that had experience installing hardwoods was working on the 1st room while I was working on something else. This room is roughly 10′ by 15′. My concern is that, he didn’t leave a gap on the wall that the first strip of wood went down on. For the two walls that the wood runs perpendicular to, some of the pieces were cut to leave 1/4″ for expansion, but some run right up to the wall. On the wall where the last strip was installed a 1/4″ gap was left. I am wondering if you think that this will cause problems in the future? Is there anything that I can do to correct this problem? Also, should an expansion joint be left in all of the doorways? I would prefer to have all of the wood seamless, but want to install it correctly.

We just had a 3/4 inch common white oak floor put into the addition of our house. It is way too dark and even after bleaching it is still too dark. We would like to have it replaced. How do we deal with any damage that may occur to the subfloor? Will air and moisture be able to come through nail holes from crawl space under floor?

We are currently remodelling our home and plan on putting wood flooring in both our master bath as well as our laundry room. I know wood floors are generally not recommended for these areas because of water, moisture, etc. However, we are unable to be perfectly happy with any other flooring. Is there any particular species that would be able to hold up better than the others? Also, we are planning on painting both floors? Any suggestions?

I bought a home in New Mexico (extremely dry climate) three years ago which had been completely renovated. The entire home had been installed with soft wood flooring. The subflooring I believe is wood with a crawl space under the house. I noticed this winter that the floor was severely cupping in certain areas (the onset of which appeared to be quite sudden).

Providing I cut back the flooring along the walls and address the moisture issue once I determine it (as you assumed the crawl space has a dirt surface and there was no intentional source built into the crawl space for cross ventilation from what I can determine) will the cupping that has already occurred level itself back out or will I have to level it manually (i.e.- sanding)?

We refinished our floors in September and they came out pretty nice. However, it is now January and all around the floor you can start to see separation between the polyurethane and each plank joint. Basically, the polyurethane is pulling away from the floor where each plank meets. Again, the finish is not pulling away anywhere but at each plank seam and only slightly. What could be causing this? Is there anything we can do about it?

Two years ago we had our 30+ year old oak living room floor refinished. The results were excellent! We had the same guys install a new site finished oak floor in another room this year. The new wood was allowed to sit in the room for about 3 weeks this fall to adjust to the temperature and humidity characteristics of the house. A product that they referred to as liquid oak was used during finishing. I understand completely ( from the old floor refinishing ) that during the cooler months, separations will appear between planks and subsequently close with warmer conditions. My concern is that some of the separations in the new floor have a very jagged appearance. Both the finisher and I agree that this resulted from the liquid oak separating alternately on each side of the boards as the wood contracted. In a small ” test ” area, he used a putty type product intended to fill such openings. Would you advise applying this ” putty ” along all of the openings? Do you have any suggestions? Am I better off to see this through for a year of expansion and contraction?

I would like to install hardwood in my basement. I understand the moisture problems with basements, is there not a product out there that would seal the cement making it water proof? I was thinking of an epoxy paint, like the one they use on garage floors. Would this stop ground moisture from penetrating the concrete? I would then use a plywood subfloor prior to installing the hardwood.

We have recently had a solid oak floor laid in our living/dining area. The floor consists of oak planks (160mm x 20mm) glued directly onto concrete subfloor. Unfortunately the floor has buckled severely in couple of areas. How do we rectify this matter without incurring huge costs? Will it go back naturally with the aid of a dehumidifier or would we have to replace the whole floor?

I just bought the house yesterday and had the wood delivered right after the closing, oak, 3.25″. Somehow I haven’t activated my account with the gas company, so the heat has been off just right after wood was brought into the house. The heat will be off till Monday, 28th afternoon. Meanwhile, the temperature is about 18 degrees at night and going to be 16 tomorrow night. I put few electric heaters and humidifier, the temperature was about 59 degrees when I left. Would my wood be ruined or it can restore itself after the heat is back on? How long it should get acclimated after heat is back?

Due to severe damage in my house, I recently had new oak floors installed on the second floor of my home I live in a hi-ranch in NY. My problem is since the installation 5 months ago I have had many large sections or areas of the second floor that have cupped. I put the contractor on notice and he came to the house and he admitted there is a problem but could not determine what would cause the cupping. He had his moisture meter and found everything dry. PS as a side note the wood did acclimate to the house for 3-5 days inside prior to installation. The floors are a #1 oak and were finished with 3 coats of satin poly. The installation was very tight board to board, no gaps. Now knowing that the only thing that has caused the cupping is expansion due to absorbing moisture. And it did not absorb moisture from the surface because it’s sealed.

We just moved in our house 8 weeks ago and have already had 2 plumbing leaks which have resulted in buckling our brand new solid hardwood floors. I have talked to my installer of the floors and he said it would take 3 to 4 months to completely dry out and with time they would go down. They aren’t coming completely up yet but are very wavy. Do you think that it is truly possible that they may go down? I am hoping that the worse case scenario would be that they can just be sanded and refinished. What are your thoughts?

I am building a new house and I am interested in wider boards of about 5 inches but I have heard these can have problems with cupping? Is this true and if it is, is there a way to avoid the problem?

A few weeks after being installed, entire floor is cupping. These are Pre-finished, 3/4 inch thick, solid oak strip floors. What’s best way to resolve the problem? Can they be sanded down smooth and re-stained & re-finished? What is a normal price point for this sort of job? Also, flooring was purchased at ********, which sells discount flooring materials (which I found out later are often “seconds” or slightly damaged). I’ve seen other installations where the same flooring has been used & they exhibited similar problems with different degrees of cupping. Sometimes just a small patch was cupped & others when larger or separate areas cupped. I’m assuming the flooring to be the same because of the large number of visible “flaws” in the wood such as knots and dark streaks. (Although the flaws are what I found most beautiful about the floors!) Could it be that the wood was still too green when they were pre-finished but the problems not occur until after installation due to trapped moisture? Would the manufacturer be responsible for this? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

We installed floating engineered floor [click in system] all over the house last spring. In winter time some parts of the floor squeak. After stepping on them few times just went away but then come back again. It’s a new product we bought from store.

What is the recommended relative humidity for a house in mixed climate (heat & Air condition)? The house is equipped with a humidifier to regulate the RH during the heating season. The house is equipped with forced air heat but, at night, the owners shut down the forced air and heat with wall radiators with hot water circulated from a gas fired boiler. The *** Pine flooring is shrinking, leaving unsightly cracks between the boards (some, but not all).

I laid a oak tongue and groove floor in winter on two layers of plywood. The humidity in the rooms was a bit low but last summer, when the humidity increased the flooring buckled up. Can this be because I didn’t leave enough gaps in-between the plywood sheeting underneath. What can you suggest?