Q: 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.
A: you mentioned that the new floor was in the house for some time before installation. So, the new wood was acclimated to the house. That is one thing we can remove from the equation. What is under the area where the new floor was installed? A crawl space perhaps?
The 2 areas for the new installation would happen to be 2 areas in the house that might be subject to the most moisture: a kitchen with lots of cooking and steam and spills, and a foyer, with wet feet. So, yes, I could see that those areas might do something funky while the older floors in the living room and dining room might not.
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