WoodFlooringGuy.com

You were kind enough to give your opinion on our floors last fall. Now we’ve given it several months, with a dehumidifier running non-stop in the crawl space. The floors have gone down some, but there is still a noticeable cup. Apparently the wood floor installer said that it is relatively dry beneath. Although we’ve had a weird winter, it has been very dry due to heat for at least 2 months. We’re thinking have them come back in now and resand. We tend to have very rainy wet springs/early summers (although it could also be a drought!) Does this sound reasonable to you?

We are building a new home. It is pier and beam construction. Our cherry floors were installed in Nov. and then covered with cardboard to protect them until finishing them, last month. Uncovering revealed severe cupping and the wood was above 10% moisture and could not be finished. The flooring company suggested running heaters, which was done for 2 weeks with little result. When the contractor got the central heat running the floors began to dry out but then actually increased in moisture again. There is no water in the house or under the house. We had a lot of rain and cold in Dec. and Jan. and they are telling us this is a normal thing and the floors will be fine once dry and finished. What do you think?

Our solid oak floors (installed in March 2006) are cupping. We were told to run a dehumidifier which we are doing, but we can’t see or feel any difference.

If we install 3/4″ x 8″ t&g solid wood, wormy red oak (finished in place) floors in the non-conventional, non-recommended fashion of fully adhering the boards over a structural concrete slab, using Sika’s T55 adhesive… and if we have no moisture drive problems from the slab and also have a well functioning humidity control system in place in the home, how likely is it that we will still experience cupping of the wood floors?

We bought a home that is 12 yr. old this past February. The dining room, living room, and family room already had red oak hardwood flooring (solid). The kitchen and foyer had tile. Before we moved in we had the tile taken out and hardwood installed to match existing (hardwood sat in the house for awhile before installation). We also put it in the upstairs hallway. The newly installed hardwood is now cupping while the existing is flat. This makes me think it is not a humidity issue or else it would all be cupping - right? I live in VA which is pretty humid and would appreciate any insight you could give.

My hickory 4-inch-board floors were installed in December 2005 in a brand new home. The boards are not laying completely flat. They have like a wavy appearance and you can feel the waves with your hands. I noticed this probably a month or so after installation. I have been waiting, thinking they might flatten out in time. Also, I hear loud “cracking sounds” coming from the flooring from time to time. Could you tell me what caused this and if there is anything that can be done about it?

We have a new wood floor installed in a new addition, over a newly built crawl space. The floor was installed during a very wet period of the summer (historic floods took place near that time). The floor was flat after finishing. We covered it with drop cloths for a few weeks while trim work was done. When we removed the drop cloths, the floors had cupped. There had also been a problem with drainage that the builder had fixed, but not before it flooded the new crawl space. Now we are stumped – the job is done, we are about to have it inspected, and the builder is saying to wait until winter for the floor to flatten out with the heat. What if it doesn’t? What if it still needs to be resanded and refinished? Whose responsibility is this? We are reluctant to move into the space before this issue is resolved, but how long can/should we wait?

(TN) We are in the final stages of having red oak flooring installed in our home. We chose to have a water based varnish applied vs. the oil to allow more of the true wood colours to show. Prior to application of the water based varnish the floor was smooth and level. Subsequent applications of varnish have resulted in slight cupping in the flooring.

There is a large bubble in a click-type engineered floor in our basement. It was installed 6 months ago. The dealer says it is due to excess moisture and will charge for a T cap, removal of quarter round and repair to board. Is this reasonable?

What can cause hardwood floors to buckle in some areas? No water or liquids have been left standing anywhere. The owner of the home is blaming my family and I, since they have occurred after we moved in.

I installed pre-finished floors in my kitchen, family room, and entry way about a year and a half ago. They were installed over plywood which was over concrete. There was a moisture barrier put down as well. I have been noticing cracks slowly forming on the wood boards, especially now as we are transitioning from winter into spring. It seems like the cracks start somewhere within the board and somehow get to the surface and bubble up the finish. The cracks go with the grain. In all your answers, you say that the cracks are due to lack of moisture. Could the cracks also be due to too much moisture? I bought a hygrometer and put it on the floor and the humidity in those rooms run between 55% and 65%. I think in your answers, you said the relative humidity in the air should be between 30% and 45%. I’m just not sure if I should add more moisture in the air or take out moisture.

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 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?

About three years ago, we had some laminate ¼” wood floors glued to the concrete in my garage which was converted to a family room. The wood was acclimated as prescribed and the floor had to be skimmed per the installers recommendation. Since that time, there have been several areas that have apparently either “cupped” from the floor or were never actually adhered due to a poor skim or trawling job by the installers. In any event, the floor now “pops” in those areas when you walk across them, which is quite annoying. Is there any way to fix these areas?

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 bought an older house and decided to have wood flooring installed in the sunken living room (on concrete slab). Before installing the flooring my contractor said there was a spot that was not level, he charged me $400.00 to level the spot before he would install the wood flooring (not laminate). I paid him to level the spot and he installed all but the last two feet wide and twenty feet long section. Within the first week the floor buckled up over that spot. He came back and removed the flooring over the supposed leveled spot and said I must have a water leak. He now wants $500.00 more to replace the flooring over that spot, nothing about even finishing the job (the 2′x20′ section). From everything I’ve read in researching probable causes for this problem, it seems that he didn’t install properly. The spot was NOT leveled and there are uneven levels of concrete where he “leveled” the spot. When he removed the few planks of buckled flooring, the pieces left are cracking if you step on them, where the concrete is unleveled and there is nothing under to support it. I can find no signs of a water leak. What can I do to make the contractor fix and complete the job right? How do I prove it was installers error and not the supposed water leak?

I am wondering what kind of damage a window air conditioning unit could cause. I had a window unit in for about one week during this exceptionally hot and humid summer, and there is an area of flooring that has buckled. Could this have been caused by the weather, or could a small window unit cause a floor to bubble up in such a short period of time?

My newly uncovered 125 year old 5/4 inch pine plank floors have some high and low undulations. Also,clearly someone used a sander on the floor and removed some but not all the paint before putting on a linoleum floor. There are many random spots with some paint that remains. One contractor told me he had to do the whole floor by hand to remove the paint and to avoid sanding off too much of the surface to flatten the floor. I wondered why an orbital could not be used instead of hand work. I guess it could be if done non aggressively applied. Correct? How would you attack such a floor? Would a floor sander really remove all the “character” from such a floor. What about replacing some missing 5/4 planks with 3/4 inch planks that are shimmed up, or faced on the bottom with a half inch board?